"Citigroup" posts 7.6 billion dollars in losses

American bank "Citigroup" Inc., in which the government owns a 27% stake, posted losses of 7.6 billion lei in the last quarter of of 2009, due to expenses incrred in paying back the funds received from the US government.

The bank said its quarterly loss narrowed to 33 cents a sharecompared with a loss of $17.3 billion, or $3.40 a share, a year earlier, analysts expected .

Turnover of "Citigroup" dropped 4.3% during the reporting period, to 5.41 billion dollars.

In December 2009, "Citigroup" paid back to the US Treaasury 20 billion dollars from the aid received, which cost the bank 8 billion dollars. Excluding the payback of the state aid, "Citigroup" had a loss of 1.4 billion dollars at the end of 2009 (6 cents/share).

The management of "Citigroup" announced: "We have made a significant progress in 2009. We have consolidated our capital, we have reduced the size and the scope of the company, we have reorganized our business strategy in order to capitalize on the activities of our global network".

capital Tier 1 a "Citigroup" had a Tier 1 capital ratio of 9.6% at the end of 2009, compared to 2.3% at the end of last year.

The bank"s revenues from consumer operations increased 0.2%, to 5.72 billion dollars, and trading and investment revenues increased 5.9%, to 5.4 billion dollars.

In 2010, Citigroup will have to continue its recovery efforts, while facing non-performing loans and accelerating the spinoff of unprofitable divisions.

"Citi Holdings", the division which owns the assets which will be sold off, posted a loss of 2.44 billion dollars in Q4 2009. The assets of "Citi Holdings" decreased by 70 billion dollars, to 547 billion (almost one third of the bank"s total assets).

"Citicorp", the division which the company intends to keep, had a profit of 1.73 billion dollars in Q4 2009, compared to a loss of 5.52 billion dollars in Q4 2008