The Citi franchise in Asia-Pacific made its strongest start to the year since 2009 when it reported revenue of US$3.3 billion in the first quarter of 2015, up 5% from a year ago, and EBIT (earnings before interest and tax) of $1.5 billion, up 18% for the same period.
Citi reported first quarter earnings for 2015 of $4.8 billion and EBIT of $6.9 billion up 14% year-on-year on revenue of $19.8 billion, excluding CVA/DVA (credit value adjustment/debt value adjustment).
The results underscored the importance of the Asia-Pacific region to the global business, being the largest contributor to the group outside of North America, in terms of revenue, net income and EBIT.
Citigroup’s head of Asia Pacific Stephen Bird, who is moving to New York to become CEO of global consumer bank, says the institutional clients group posted a 12% year-on-year growth in revenue in the first quarter led by a standout performance in markets and securities services with important contributions from FXLM, equities, commodities, spread products and securities services. “We also saw strong flows through our network from the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect, with several record trading days for client activity,” he says.
In global consumer banking, the first quarter revenue reached $1.6 billion, down 1% from a year earlier. However, there were strong revenue performances in investment sales, up 3% from a year ago, and investment AUMs, rising 5% year-on-year. Net income of $339 million was also up 10% quarter-on-quarter.
For March, Citi’s wealth management business delivered its strongest monthly revenue since 2008 as more clients turned to Citi to provide them with advice and investment options. It likewise grew deposits in the franchise by 3% versus the first quarter of 2014 and had $220 billion of deposits in Asia at the end of the quarter.
In global capital markets, Citi helped to raise over $40 billion for its clients, including new debt benchmarks for the Republic of Indonesia via a $4 billion offering and for Malaysia’s Petronas through a $5 billion bond.
Citi’s treasury and trade solutions business had significant success in deepening client relationships and won numerous marquee deals, including Philips, involving 12 countries, Sime Darby, 9 markets, and Twitter, 7 markets. The bank’s focus on client experience initiatives, around its work in operating model re-engineering, network improvements and innovation, translated into a Voice-of-Client satisfaction rate of 87%, up from 78%.
Citi launched a bancassuarance partnership in India with Tata AIA Life to provide life insurance in the country. It held its 12th and most successful Asia-Pacific investor conference in Singapore, attracting more than 1,000 clients, issuers and investors. Citi Asia-Pacific also collected the Best Bank in Asia award from The Asset magazine for the 16th consecutive year in 2014.
Under Execution 2.0, much work was done during the quarter to prepare for the roll out of an enhanced cards onboarding experience and the delivery of a new global rewards platform, which has been piloted in Australia and will be rolled out in Asia-Pacific later this year.
Meanwhile, Citi celebrated its commitment to diversity during International Women’s Day (IWD). This year, some 80 IWD events were organized across 30 cities in the region, including flagship client events in Hong Kong and Singapore - drawing great participation from employees and clients.
Looking to the new challenge ahead, Bird says he is excited by the opportunity to continue the transformation of Citi’s global consumer bank into the world’s leading consumer bank. He notes Asia-Pacific is central to achieving this goal, with 12 out of Citi’s 24 consumer markets residing in this region.
