Citigroup reported net income of $3.57bn for the fourth quarter of 2016, a rise of 7% compared to $3.33bn a year ago.
Total revenues for the quarter were $17.01bn, a fall of 8% from $18.45 in the fourth quarter of 2015.
The group’s operating expenses during the quarter dropped 9% to $10.12bn from $11.13bn in the previous year.
Citigroup’s Private Bank revenues rose 6% to $731m. The bank attributed the rise to higher loan balances and higher spreads.
Citi CEO Michael Corbat said: "We had a strong finish to 2016, bringing momentum into this year. We drove revenue growth in our businesses and demonstrated strong expense discipline across the firm. We achieved a full year Citicorp efficiency ratio of 58% as we had targeted, while again increasing our loans and deposits.
“Our core businesses are beginning to produce the returns our investors expect and deserve. In 2016, we returned nearly $11 billion in capital to our shareholders. Even with this capital return, we ended the year with a Common Equity Tier 1 Capital ratio of 12.5%, 40 basis points higher than when we started the year, showing the capability of this franchise to consistently generate and return significant amounts of capital,” Corbat added.
