US financial giant Citigroup has said it expects a 60% drop in net profits for the third quarter of this year compared with the same period last year.
The fall is due to turmoil in the mortgage-backed securities and credit markets.
The bank described the expected third quarter results as 'a clear disappointment'.
Chairman and CEO Charles Prince said the decline was due to 'a weak performance in fixed income credit market activities, write-downs in leveraged loan commitments, and increases in consumer credit costs'.
In September, the company's fixed income trading business 'performed at more normalised levels and we see this quarter's overall poor trading performance as an aberration,' Prince said.
He said that he expects the bank's profit to return to normal in the final quarter.
'While we cannot predict market conditions or other unforeseeable events that may affect our businesses, we expect to return to a normal earnings environment in the fourth quarter,' he said.
