New York City, NY – In 2008, U.S. banking giant Citigroup, about to become yet another failed financial institution, received in the ballpark of $45 billion in federal help. Now Citigroup has made a good profit of $2.99 billion in 2011 1st Quarter (1Q) for the fifth straight quarter. Though that number is down from this time last year due to world wide economic stagnation it was still better then predicted. Still some media outlets still refer to Citigroup’s profit for 2011′s 1Q as meek as it is about 32% less then the $4.4 billion profit it reported for 2010′s 1Q.
In times passed Citigroup was able to fall back on its’ world wide profits to help with it’s domestic shortfalls. However, this quarter, as the world is in turmoil, Citigroup did not have that option. In just about all markets globally in which Citigroup operates such as, the United States, Europe, Japan and the Middle East there has been a major declines in profits. Altogether profits fell some 22%, to $19.7 billion, all the while the company’s expenses surged by 12 percent to over $9.5 billion.
However, it is worth mentioning that like most banks, Citigroup did cushion its’ loses by means of releasing money, which under normal circumstances, would have been used for loans gone bad. Citigroup has claimed come of the released money as profits, though such a move is common with banks and sits well with the law it does not do so with investors.
