NEW YORK: Citigroup yesterday reported higher third-quarter quarterly earnings on a big jump in revenues as it unveiled plans to exit consumer banking in 11 markets, including Japan. Earnings for the US banking giant were $3.4bn, up 6.6 percent from the year-ago period.
Revenues soared 9.5 percent to $19.6 behind robust gains in global consumer banking as well as in investment banking and corporate lending.
Citi plans to sell its consumer businesses in 11 markets where the company sees little prospect for winning returns. Together, these 11 markets accounted for under five percent of the consumer banking’s global revenues.
Chief financial officer John Gerspach said the 11 markets were marginally profitable, but the gain was small. “We just didn’t see a path toward what we would consider to be an acceptable rate of return,” Gerspach told a media conference call.
The move affects consumer franchises in Costa Rica, the Czech Republic, Egypt, El Salvador, Guam, Guatemala, Hungary, Japan, Nicaragua, Panam, Peru and Korea.
AFP
