Citigroup's quarterly profit beat Wall Street estimates as the third-largest US bank cut expenses.
It also benefited from an improved economy and more active capital markets after a dismal end to 2011.
Profits were also boosted by loan growth in the lender's core Citicorp division, strong fixed income performance, and continued improvement in credit quality.
This allowed Citigroup to release reserves set aside for bad loans.
JPMorgan Chase & Co beat Wall Street's expectations on Friday, helped by some of the same macro trends - a better economy and more active capital markets.
The results confirm investor expectations of a recovery after the European debt crisis hit markets late last year, and they augur well for other major US banks such as Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Bank of America, all due to report results this week.
Citigroup's chief financial officer John Gerspach said demand for loans remains soft in the US and Europe but continues strong in emerging markets. Loan growth was particularly strong for trade finance, he added in a conference call with reporters.
"While the operating environment improved in the first quarter, there is still much macro uncertainty and we will continue to manage risk carefully,'' chief Executive Vikram Pandit said.
Citigroup's first-quarter net income fell 2% to $2.93 billion, or 95 cents a share, from $2.99 billion, or 99 cents a share, a year earlier.
Revenue from the company's ongoing securities trading and investment banking business declined 12% from the strong quarter a year earlier but rose 65% from the weak 2011 fourth quarter.
Expenses were down 7% from the fourth quarter and were flat with a year earlier, reflecting seasonal factors and the company's commitment to bring costs down for the year, Gerspach said in the conference call.
A set of assets that the company has been selling off or running down since the financial crisis, declined 29% from a year earlier to $209 billion, or 11% of total Citigroup assets.
