Lower expenses lift Citigroup earnings

Lower expenses helped lift Citigroup earnings in the first quarter, but the bank's divisions reported mixed performance amid lower revenues, according to earnings Thursday.

Net income was $4.8 billion, up about 21 percent compared with a year ago.

A key improvement was the 10 percent decline in operating expenses to $12.1 billion, partly due to legal costs that were less than half the level a year ago.

Citi also had just $16 million in repositioning charges in the most recent quarter compared with $211 million last year.

Citi's institutional clients group was lifted by higher revenues from investment banking and corporate lending.

But the bank reported a drop in revenues in fixed income markets and equity markets. That performance contrasted with that of some competitors such as Goldman Sachs, which reported increases in these categories earlier Thursday.

Overall net income in institutional clients was flat with last year at $2.9 billion.

Citi's global consumer banking earnings rose 3.8 percent to $1.7 billion. However, the bank's overseas divisions saw a 10 percent decline in revenues, in part due to the strong dollar.

"We had a strong quarter overall, particularly in executing against our top strategic priorities," said Citi chief executive Michael Corbat.

"While some businesses faced revenue headwinds, we grew loans and deposits in our core businesses and gained wallet share among our target clients."

Citi's results translated into earnings of $1.51 per share, above the $1.39 projected by Wall Street analysts.

Revenues dropped 2.3 percent to $19.74 billion, under the $19.82 billion forecast by Wall Street analysts.

Shares of Citi rose 1.4 percent to $53.95 in pre-market trade.