Citi Beats, Sees Card Growth on Costco Deal

Among the trio of large banks reporting earnings on Friday — which, individually, bested earnings estimates — Citigroup posted its gains on reboot to trading revenues.

Citi said Friday that it logged $1.24 in net income per share, besting the Street by eight cents even after an 11 percent drop year over year on the bottom line.  The top line came in at $17.8 billion, which wad bette than expectations of $17.4 billion.

Drilling  down a bit into the numbers, the trading revenues were given a leg up by the Brexit vote, and the frenzy of currency trading that accompanied it, which for Citi, offset a 34 percent decline in equity trading amid a dearth of IPOs and share offerings in the broader markets.

But the consumer banking division could hardly have been seen as a bright spot, as net income in that segment slipped year over year by 25 percent.  The cost structure has been weighted down by Citi’s taking on of the Costco co-branded credit card portfolio.

Aside from those pressures, the firm noted some sanguine trends in its credit card business, as the revenues were up 15 percent year over year to $2.2 billion in North America, again on the Costco business, and what the firm said was organic growth in its other card portfolio. This was the first full quarter to feature Costco results.