Citigroup Posts Profits for Third Straight Quarter

Citigroup Posts Profits for Third Straight Quarter - Image via Wikipedia

The American financial services Citigroup announced a $2.2 billion profit for the second quarter today marking the third straight quarter that the company has reported profits since accepting bailout funds. 

Citigroup has worked hard in the past several months to trim losses from defaulted home loans and to bolster their lending in other areas. 

Early last month Citigroup announced that Discover Card would purchase their Student Loan Corporation, further trimming heavy debt from Citigroup. Discover Card was set to take on billions in debt with the purchase while Citigroup was able to unload a weight that had been holding them back from forward movement. 

Citi Holdings, the group that was created to house the so-called “troubled assets” held by the company has been further scaled down. The bank has managed to sell or collect on billions from the troubled asset sector, giving them greater capital gains throughout the quarter. 

Since the economic crisis hit, Citigroup has been working to restructure the company into a smaller entity that will concentrate harder on the international sector. They have largely dissolved their standard lending practices in favor of a more global outlook that will increase profits in the near future. 

Citigroup has seen an increase in revenue of 43% since the bailout effort. Taking into account the sale of assets to various other banks and institutions, Citigroup is set to emerge from the financial crisis in better shape than expected. 

Early trading for Citigroup today showed the bank at its highest level in the past month with pre-trading figures at 2% higher than expected linked to the earnings report announced before the floor opened.