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Citigroup posted a net loss for the past quarter of 2.495 billion dollars as the troubled banking giant was forced to take more hefty writeoffs from US real estate losses.

But the loss, amounting to 54 cents a share, was not as bad as feared on Wall Street, where analysts had been expecting a deficit of 61 cents a share.

Citi, one of the world's biggest banks, said it wrote off an additional 7.2 billion dollars in securities and banking, largely from soured property market bets.

The net loss marked a sharp turnabout from a profit of 6.2 billion dollars in the same period a year earlier.

Revenues for the second quarter fell 29 percent to 18.7 billion dollars, hurt by the writeoffs.

Vikram Pandit, the chief executive named in December in a shakeup following hefty losses, said the banking firm has made progress in cleaning up its finances and shoring up capital through sales on non-core operations.
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"We continue to demonstrate strength in our core franchise," he said.

"We cut our second quarter losses in half compared to the first quarter. The cost of credit increased by 20 percent from the first quarter, but write-downs in our Securities and Banking business dropped by 42 percent. Additionally, headcount and expenses declined sequentially. While there is still much to do, we are encouraged by our progress in delivering on our commitment to the re-engineering efforts."

Citigroup shares have plunged over 60 percent in the past year on fears of further losses from the US housing meltdown, but have rebounded in recent weeks. Shares closed Thursday at 17.97 dollars.

The company has offloaded its pension arm CitiStreet and its German retail banking operations, among others, to raise cash.

As part of the shakeup, Citi shed some 6,000 jobs in the past quarter, bringing to 11,000 its cuts since the start of 2008. The restructuring has slashed the company's assets by some 99 billion dollars.

"We continue to be focused on building the strongest team by attracting world class leaders to Citi and developing our current talent. This, combined with a sharp focus on customer relationships in all regions and an ongoing commitment to our strategic targets, will drive our earnings power going forward," said Pandit.

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<b>Citigroup loses $2.5 billion</b><br> by Supanee Srijaivang<br> <br> <br> Citigroup posted a net loss for the past quarter of 2.495 billion dollars as the troubled banking giant was forced to take more hefty writeoffs from US real estate losses.<br> <br> But the loss, amounting to 54 cents a share, was not as bad as feared on Wall Street, where analysts had been expecting a deficit of 61 cents a share.<br> <br> Citi, one of the world's biggest banks, said it wrote off an additional 7.2 billion dollars in securities and banking, largely from soured property market bets.<br> <br> The net loss marked a sharp turnabout from a profit of 6.2 billion dollars in the same period a year earlier.<br> <br> Revenues for the second quarter fell 29 percent to 18.7 billion dollars, hurt by the writeoffs.<br> <br> Vikram Pandit, the chief executive named in December in a shakeup following hefty losses, said the banking firm has made progress in cleaning up its finances and shoring up capital through sales on non-core operations.<br> http://articlebankloan.blogspot.com/<br> <br> "We continue to demonstrate strength in our core franchise," he said.<br> <br> "We cut our second quarter losses in half compared to the first quarter. The cost of credit increased by 20 percent from the first quarter, but write-downs in our Securities and Banking business dropped by 42 percent. Additionally, headcount and expenses declined sequentially. While there is still much to do, we are encouraged by our progress in delivering on our commitment to the re-engineering efforts."<br> <br> Citigroup shares have plunged over 60 percent in the past year on fears of further losses from the US housing meltdown, but have rebounded in recent weeks. Shares closed Thursday at 17.97 dollars.<br> <br> The company has offloaded its pension arm CitiStreet and its German retail banking operations, among others, to raise cash.<br> <br> As part of the shakeup, Citi shed some 6,000 jobs in the past quarter, bringing to 11,000 its cuts since the start of 2008. The restructuring has slashed the company's assets by some 99 billion dollars.<br> <br> "We continue to be focused on building the strongest team by attracting world class leaders to Citi and developing our current talent. This, combined with a sharp focus on customer relationships in all regions and an ongoing commitment to our strategic targets, will drive our earnings power going forward," said Pandit.<br> <br> <b>About the Author</b><br> http://articlebankloan.blogspot.com/<br><br><font size="1" face="arial">Get <A HREF="http://www.freearticlehq.com/">Free Articles</a> for your web site, newsletter, or ezine at the <A HREF="http://www.freearticlehq.com/">Free Article Headquarters</A></font>.