Citigroup has reported its earnings for Q4 2014, revealing a dramatic drop in net income compared to the same period in 2013.
Net income was $350 million on revenues of $17.8 billion, compared to $2.5 billion of income on $17.8 billion revenue in Q4 2013. This has been attributed to an increase in legal expenses and charges, which totalled $3.5 billion in Q4 2014, compared to 1 billion in the same period of 2013.
Securities services results were positive, with Q4 2014 reaching $574 million. This is a drop of 4 percent compared to Q3 2014, which reached $600 million, but a 4 percent increase on Q4 in 2013, which peaked at $554 million.
For the full year 2014, securities services reached $2.33 billion, a 3 percent increase on 2013’s total figure of $2.27 billion. This increase has been attributed to increased client balances and activity in the market.
The total figure for the markets and securities services sector was down, however, with Q4 2014 reaching $2.99 billion, a drastic 30 percent drop from $4.28 billion in Q3 2014, and a 9 percent drop from $3.27 billion in Q4 2013.
As well as securities services, this incorporates fixed income market revenues and equity markets.
Fixed income markets revenues reached $2 billion, a decrease of 16 percent compared to Q4 2013. This drop has been put down to difficult trading conditions in spread products and a challenging macroeconomic environment that has impacted the rates business as a whole.
Equity markets reached $471 million, a 3 percent drop compared to Q4 2013, attributed to lower trading revenues in cash equities throughout the European, Middle East and Asia region.
CEO Michael Corbat said: "While the overall results for 2014 fell short of our expectations, we did make significant progress on our top priorities.”
He added: “Although we made some difficult decisions over the course of the year, I believe they allowed us to put our franchise in a position to have a successful 2015."
