US bank Citigroup has reported a $1.3 billion profit for the fourth quarter of last year, rounding off a year of recovery from the financial crisis. This meant that it recorded a profit of $10.6 billion for the full year, well up from the loss of $1.6 billion in 2009.
The company reported a net profit of four cents per share for the final quarter, compared with a loss of $7.6 billion, or 33 cents per share, a year earlier.
Citigroup took $45 billion in US government bail-out funds during the financial crisis. Analysts on average had expected it to post a profit of eight cents per share for the fourth quarter of 2010.
The bank reported revenue of $18.4 billion, an increase from a year earlier but a 6% drop from the third quarter. Citigroup attributed the slump to a slowdown in its investment bank.
It was the fourth consecutive quarterly profit for Citigroup, and its first since the US government finished selling off its stake in the company last month.
'2010 was a year full of milestones and was critical for the turnaround of this institution,' said CEO Vikram Pandit.
