Citigroup Inc. on Thursday, it reported a considerably higher profit in the first quarter and said it would close most of its consumer banking operations in Asia, Europe and the Middle East.
The bank posted a profit of $ 7.9 billion, or $ 3.62 per share, well above $ 2.60 per share forecast by analysts surveyed by FactSet. A year earlier, Citigroup had reported a quarterly profit of about $ 2.5 billion or $ 1.05 per share.
Citigroup also said it would leave consumer operations in 13 countries, mostly in Asia, to focus on wealth management and other business.
Jane Fraser, who took over as chief executive last month, said in a statement that those consumer banks were excellent businesses, but “we don’t have the size to compete.” She said Citigroup will continue to invest in wealth management and business working with corporate clients in Asia.
Citigroup is a giant on Wall Street, but is relatively small in the US consumer banking sector, a combination that some analysts and investors have criticized. Ms. Fraser said in January that the bank will restructure the businesses that manage the money for wealthy customers, in order to reach customers earlier and keep them as they get richer. The bank said on Thursday it would operate consumer banking in four “wealth centers”, where strong growth is expected for the wealth management business: Singapore, Hong Kong, the United Arab Emirates and London.