Citi meets expectations, sees hope in foreign business

Excluding the exit of the loss-sharing agreement with the government and TARP repayments, which was $6.2 billion, Citi would have a loss of $0.06 per share. The per share loss was $0.06 more than last quarter, but $3.07 less than a year ago.

Revenue for the fourth quarter was $5.4 billion, down $15 billion from last quarter. The revenues would have been $15.5 billion without the TARP repayment and exiting of loss-sharing agreement.

Expenses grew by 4.24 percent from last quarter, although for the year, Citigroup managed to cut costs by $13 billion by reducing headcount by 100,000. The 2009 expense was $47.8 billion. It also trimmed its assets by $500 billion from the peak level.

Chief Executive Officer Vikram Pandit touted the company's “unmatched global network,” “international footprint,” and “global talent” as a big part of its refocused business strategy. Citigroup works with 85% of the top global companies, the company says.

For the year, the company's Citicorp division earned 68% of its revenues, or $41 billion, from outside the North American region. Similarly, its regional consumer banking earned $15.5 billion, or 68% of the revenues outside of North America.

Provision for loan losses was $8.2 billion for the fourth quarter, down 36 percent year-on-year and 10 percent quarter-on-quarter. Net credit losses were 7.1 billion, down $0.8 from last quarter.

Citigroup issued its earnings press release at 8:00 am and will hold its earnings conference call at 11:00 am. It is trading at $3.34 in pre-market trading, down 2.34 percent from yesterday.