Citigroup reported first-quarter 2025 net income of $4.1 billion, or $1.96 per diluted share, a 21% increase on the same period a year earlier. Total revenues reached $21.6 billion, up 3% year-on-year.
Operating expenses fell 5% year-on-year to $13.4 billion, driven by a smaller FDIC special assessment, the absence of a restructuring charge and lower compensation expenses, including productivity savings from the organisational simplification.
BROAD-BASED REVENUE GROWTH
All five businesses grew revenue, with Wealth up 24% and Banking and Markets each up 12%. Services revenues rose 3% year-on-year to $4.9 billion, driven by growth in Treasury and Trade Solutions, which continued to gain market share, partly offset by lower non-interest revenue in Securities Services. Markets revenues advanced 12% to $6.0 billion, with Fixed Income markets revenues up 8% to $4.5 billion and Equity markets revenues up 23% to $1.5 billion.
The Common Equity Tier 1 ratio stood at 13.4% at the end of March 2025.
TRANSFORMATION AND OUTLOOK
Citigroup's Transformation programme follows the strategic direction outlined by chief executive Jane Fraser in 2021. The programme encompasses a simplification of the firm's legal-entity structure, a reduction in management layers, the divestiture of consumer franchises in markets where scale is insufficient, and a modernisation of the bank's data infrastructure and risk management systems.
Cost of credit rose 15% to $2.7 billion, reflecting a reserve build tied to a weaker macroeconomic outlook and higher net credit losses in the US card portfolios. Management has previously indicated that it will continue to focus on what it can control: expenses, capital discipline, and the pace of the Transformation.
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