CEO Pandit says Citi had strong 2009 start: memo
Tue Mar 10, 2009 4:57am EDT
By Quentin Webb and Douwe Miedema
LONDON (Reuters) - Citigroup (C.N) was profitable in the first two months of 2009 and is confident about its capital strength after tough internal stress tests, according to a memo from Chief Executive Vikram Pandit obtained by Reuters.
Citigroup declined to comment on the memo, sent as an email to colleagues and obtained by Reuters on Tuesday. The memo was accompanied by speaking notes for Pandit.
The memo came after the cost of insuring Citi's debt against default hit a record on Monday.
In the notes, Citigroup said it was having its best quarter-to-date performance since the third quarter of 2007.
Revenues excluding externally disclosed marks were $19 billion in January and February alone, almost reaching the $21 billion of the first quarter last year.
"That said, we are still one month away from the end of the quarter and market volatility could alter results," the bank said in the speaking notes.
The memo also said that the bank was confident about its capital strength after it had done stress tests, using assumptions that were more pessimistic than those of the U.S. Federal Reserve.
In the memo, Pandit said he was disappointed with Citi's stock price and "broad-based misperceptions about our company and its financial position."
"We believe our credit spreads are disconnected from our condition and are inconsistent with the government's announcements regarding support for the financial system."
(Reporting by Douwe Miedema and Quentin Webb; Editing by Hans Peters)
''NYT'': Citigroup war in den ersten beiden Monaten des Jahres profitabel
Die teilverstaatlichte amerikanische Bank Citigroup (News/Aktienkurs) war einem Pressebericht zufolge in den ersten beiden Monaten des Jahres profitabel. Bisher verlaufe das Geschäft in den ersten drei Monaten so gut wie seit dem dritten Quartal 2007 nicht mehr, zitiert die "New York Times" auf ihrer Internetseite eine interne Nachricht des Citigroup-Chefs Vikram Pandit vom Montag. Die Bank habe bei den Erträgen vor Sonderposten bereits in den ersten beiden Monaten mit 19 Milliarden Dollar fast den Durchschnitt der einzelnen Quartale im vergangenen Jahr erreicht. Nach Pandits Darstellung in der internen Mitteilung lag der durchschnittliche Ertrag pro Quartal im vergangenen Jahr bei 21 Milliarden Dollar. Zudem lägen die Kosten bis Ende Februar mit 8,1 Milliarden Dollar unter den Planungen der Bank. Bei der Citi war zunächst niemand für einen Kommentar zu erreichen./zb/wiz
www.finanznachrichten.de/...aten-des-jahres-profitabel-016.htm
An der Börse sind 2 mal 2 niemals 4, sondern 5 minus 1.
Man muß nur die Nerven haben, das minus 1 auszuhalten.