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Just A Normal $18 Billion Year...
Citigroup just posted a profit of $18 billion in 2003. Oh yeah, that's a whole lot of money.
Don't tell me you could pull that off.
Citigroup earnings hit $17.85bn full-year record
By Paul J Davies
Published: January 20 2004 13:12 | Last Updated: January 20 2004 13:12
Citigroup illustrated its position as the world's most profitable bank on Tuesday, reporting full-year net income from continuing operations up 33 per cent to a record $17.85bn after strong performances from both retail and investment banking.
Chuck Prince, who formally took over as chief executive from Citigroup founder Sandy Weill in October last year, said the bank's ability to grow and evolve "even as we completed a seamless transition to new leadership" was its most important acheivement.
"With the blueprint established under Sandy Weill, we've continued to forge a new model of a highly successful, global financial services company, capable of delivering consistent growth," Mr Prince said.
He added that the bank was starting 2004 in an excellent position. "Customer volumes remain strong, as they were throughout 2003. We [also] maintained the number-one position in global debt and equity underwriting as well as global disclosed fees," he said.
Fourth-quarter earnings also hit a record rising 96 per cent to $4.76bn after a $242m after-tax charge for losses related to the fraud announced last month at Parmalat, the Italian milk group. The bank said its remaining credit exposure to Parmalat was $302m and its remaining marked-to-market trading exposure was $15m.
The fourth quarter last year included a $1.3bn after tax charge for reserves related to the Wall Street settlement of conflicts of interest and related civil litigation.
The Global Corporate and Investment Banking arm, which Mr Prince ran before becoming group chief executive, saw full-year income of $5.39bn up 71 per cent over last year.
At the consumer arm, full-year income rose 17 per cent to $9.6bn on revenues up 9 per cent, bolstered by a record performance for credit cards. The bank said the acquisitions last year of the Sears and Home Depot card businesses helped drive a growth in card receivables in North America up 24 per cent.
With the Diners Europe acquisition, Citigroup said it now serves more than 145m credit card accounts worldwide with $163bn in recievables.
In private client services, a strong final quarter with income of $237m could not stop the unit posting a 3 per cent fall in income for the full year to $778m. However, total client assets passed the $1,000bn mark in the final quarter.
Group revenues were up 9 per cent for the year to $77.4bn, while expenses increased 5 per cent due to investment sales forces, branches and marketing as well as the costs of expensing stock options.
By Paul J Davies
Published: January 20 2004 13:12 | Last Updated: January 20 2004 13:12
Citigroup illustrated its position as the world's most profitable bank on Tuesday, reporting full-year net income from continuing operations up 33 per cent to a record $17.85bn after strong performances from both retail and investment banking.
Chuck Prince, who formally took over as chief executive from Citigroup founder Sandy Weill in October last year, said the bank's ability to grow and evolve "even as we completed a seamless transition to new leadership" was its most important acheivement.
"With the blueprint established under Sandy Weill, we've continued to forge a new model of a highly successful, global financial services company, capable of delivering consistent growth," Mr Prince said.
He added that the bank was starting 2004 in an excellent position. "Customer volumes remain strong, as they were throughout 2003. We [also] maintained the number-one position in global debt and equity underwriting as well as global disclosed fees," he said.
Fourth-quarter earnings also hit a record rising 96 per cent to $4.76bn after a $242m after-tax charge for losses related to the fraud announced last month at Parmalat, the Italian milk group. The bank said its remaining credit exposure to Parmalat was $302m and its remaining marked-to-market trading exposure was $15m.
The fourth quarter last year included a $1.3bn after tax charge for reserves related to the Wall Street settlement of conflicts of interest and related civil litigation.
The Global Corporate and Investment Banking arm, which Mr Prince ran before becoming group chief executive, saw full-year income of $5.39bn up 71 per cent over last year.
At the consumer arm, full-year income rose 17 per cent to $9.6bn on revenues up 9 per cent, bolstered by a record performance for credit cards. The bank said the acquisitions last year of the Sears and Home Depot card businesses helped drive a growth in card receivables in North America up 24 per cent.
With the Diners Europe acquisition, Citigroup said it now serves more than 145m credit card accounts worldwide with $163bn in recievables.
In private client services, a strong final quarter with income of $237m could not stop the unit posting a 3 per cent fall in income for the full year to $778m. However, total client assets passed the $1,000bn mark in the final quarter.
Group revenues were up 9 per cent for the year to $77.4bn, while expenses increased 5 per cent due to investment sales forces, branches and marketing as well as the costs of expensing stock options.
You laugh now... 
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