However, Citi's India-born Chief Vikram Pandit said it witnessed "enormous progress" in its restructuring efforts. Excluding the charges related to repayment of bailout funds, the entity recorded a loss of $1.4 billion for the December quarter, it said in a statement on Tuesday.
In the year-ago period, Citi, battered by the financial crisis, had a fourth quarter loss of $8.29 billion. "We have made enormous progress in 2009," Pandit said. "We created Citi Holdings to rationalise non-strategic businesses, totally overhauled risk management, cut costs by over $13 billion annually, reduced headcount by 100,000, reduced assets by $500 billion from peak levels," he noted.
Citi incurred charges to the tune of $6.2 billion associated with paying back Federal funds worth $20 billion and exiting loss-sharing agreement with the government. Citigroup had split itself into two -- Citicorp and Citi Holdings.
In the fourth quarter, Citicorp had a loss of $1.7 billion while Citi Holdings lost $2.5 billion.
For 2009, Citi posted a loss of $1.6 billion. "While the environment continues to be challenging, we have a strong capital base and client franchise... we continue to see indications that credit may be stabilising or improving particularly in Asia and Latin America," Citi's CFO John Gerspach said.
Citi to cap cash bonuses below $1,00,000 level
Citi board: Deutch not to stand for re-election
Citigroup sells Rs 480-cr shares of 35 Indian cos
SEC names 5 specialised unit chiefs
Euro-IV grade fuel in 13 cities from Apr 1