The year-end gyrations on Wall Street pushed corporate and investor clients to “the sidelines, waiting for some clearer market conditions."
The bank's earnings excluding the tax items beat estimates, with consumer banking posting a particularly strong quarter.
Every business in Citi's investment banking unit saw healthy growth in the third quarter except fixed-income trading.
“The momentum we saw across many of our businesses towards the end of last year carried into the first quarter," CEO Michael Corbat says.
The bank believes it is on the right track for the long term as it restructures to focus on more profitable businesses.
Citi has now sold more than 60 businesses and reduced assets in its "bad bank" Citi Holdings by more than $700 billion.
