Citigroup accelerates exit from Russian operations

Citigroup on Friday introduced plans to close down its institutional banking operations in Russia as Vladimir Putin’s assault on Ukraine stretches into its seventh month.

Citi had mentioned in August that it might wind down its client and native business operations within the nation. On the time, the financial institution mentioned it was not closing its funding banking or transaction providers companies in Russia, however was not taking up new purchasers.

On Friday, chief govt Jane Fraser mentioned the financial institution “can be ending almost all the institutional banking providers we provide (in Russia) subsequent quarter”.

She added: “To be clear, our intention is to wind down our presence on this nation.”

The financial institution mentioned it had begun informing purchasers with operations in Russia that it might stop most providers within the nation by the tip of the primary quarter of 2023.

The announcement got here because the financial institution reported a 25 per cent decline in third-quarter revenue, pushed by a rise in credit score prices and decrease income from markets and company banking.

Citigroup put its Russian client financial institution up on the market early final yr as a part of Fraser’s plan to show spherical the corporate, however efforts to tug in a foreign country accelerated after Russia invaded Ukraine in late February. For the reason that starting of the yr, Citi has decreased potential losses tied to its Russian publicity from $4bn to $2bn.

Total, the New York-based financial institution reported web revenue of $3.5bn, or $1.63 a share, down from $4.6bn, or $2.15 a share, a yr earlier. Income rose 6 per cent to $18.5bn, reflecting a one-time achieve from the sale of Citi’s Philippines client enterprise. Excluding the influence of the sale, income declined 1 per cent.

Analysts polled by FactSet had forecast earnings of $1.42 per share on $18.3bn in income.

Shares have been up 2 per cent shortly after Wall Avenue’s opening bell on Friday.