Citi Posts Q1 Earnings Beat on Booming Investment Banking Fees, Restructuring Ends

Citigroup (C) reported higher-than-forecast results as rising markets drove up investment banking fees and as CEO Jane Fraser’s restructuring strategy aimed at streamlining the lender’s costs bore fruit.

“Last month marked the end to the organizational simplification we announced in September,” Fraser, who took over as CEO in 2021, said in the earnings statement. “The result is a cleaner, simpler management structure that fully aligns to and facilitates our strategy.”

Fraser launched the bank’s restructuring moves last September amid mounting expenses, and reportedly cut 5,000 jobs earlier this year. Citi shares were up 1.5% in premarket trading.

The bank reported revenues of $21.1 billion, well above the $20.4 billion consensus estimates from analysts collected by Visible Alpha. Revenues during the three months ending March this year were slightly lower than the $21.4 billion the lender reported for the first quarter 2023.  

Net income was also a beat. Reported net income for the first quarter 2024 was $3.4 billion, or $1.58 earnings per diluted share, versus the $2.59 billion figure or $1.17 EPS, analysts had expected. However, it came below the $4.6 billion, or $1.14 EPS, the bank reported during the same quarter last year, with earnings dragged down by increased expenses, a higher cost of credit and the decline in revenues.

During the three months to March, Citigroup chalked up a jump in investment banking fees, which surged to $977 million from $740 million the same period last year.