What does Citi’s pre-earnings financial disclosure suggest?

What’s the lowdown?

by SARA KHAIRI

Just a couple of days prior to reporting its fourth-quarter 2023 earnings, Citigroup issued a financial disclosure note.

Directed toward colleagues, Citi’s Chief Financial Officer, Mark Mason’s note fostered an air of anticipation regarding what lies ahead amid the challenges that the fourth-largest bank by assets has encountered in recent quarters.

Background: Wall Street banks were on a cost-cutting spree last year. Analogous to its peers, Citigroup took the same route, but there’s more to it. Citi’s last round of layoffs in September 2023 was a notch higher and came off the back of a major organizational shift spearheaded by CEO Jane Fraser. The overhaul involved the dissolution of major divisions, followed by some high-profile layoffs, leaving behind five main divisions: services, markets, banking, wealth management, and personal banking. 

While Fraser labeled these changes as requirements to simplify the bank structure and uplift shareholders’ sentiment, some view them as means to prove her mettle as the bank has stumbled on its goals in the last quarters, especially in investment banking. The bank also attracted analysts’ attention who felt a reverberation around the profit outlook for the Wall Street bank after it painted a grim picture with its second-quarter financial results.