Citigroup has reported a net income of $4.62bn for the third quarter of 2018, an increase of 12% compared to $4.13bn a year earlier.
The bank said that the rise in income was driven by lower effective tax rate and lower expenses and cost of credit.
The banking group’s total revenues for the quarter ended 30 September 2018 were $18.39bn, almost unchanged from the corresponding quarter of 2017.
Operating expenses were $10.31bn, down 1% from $10.41bn in the previous year.
Citigroup’s Private Bank revenues were $849m, an increase of 7% from $790m in the previous year ago. The bank attributed the rise to growth in loans and investments, and improved deposit spreads.
Citi CEO Michael Corbat said: “Our results this quarter showed solid year-over-year revenue growth across many of our businesses, including Fixed Income, Treasury and Trade Solutions, Securities Services, the Private Bank and our consumer franchise in Mexico. We also grew loans and deposits while continuing to prudently manage risk as demonstrated by the stability of our credit portfolio.
“We returned $6.4 billion of capital to common shareholders through buybacks and dividends during the quarter. And over the past twelve months, we’ve reduced our common shares outstanding by over 200 million or 8%. Through a combination of earnings growth and capital return, our earnings per share were 22% higher than one year ago.”