Citi's Mixed Results Underscore Global Risks
July 16 2019 - 3:14AM
Dow Jones News
By WSJ City
Citigroup's quarterly results on Monday reflected the
conventional wisdom about the current state of the global economy:
US consumers are going strong while corporate sentiment --
particularly in Asia -- is weakening due to trade tensions, writes
Aaron Back for Heard on the Street. But there is another message in
the results: the threat of lower interest rates that hangs over
Citi and all of its US peers.
KEY POINTS
-- The most international US bank reported better-than-expected earnings for
the second quarter.
-- That's largely due to a one-time gain on a stake it holds in electronic
bond-trading platform Tradeweb.
-- Excluding this, earnings were more or less in line with estimates.
-- The bank's global consumer business performed well with revenue growing
by 4% from a year earlier.
-- Its branded US credit cards thrived with revenue shooting up 7% from a
year earlier to $2.2bn.
Analysis
Citi's corporate business was less robust. Business lending in
Asia hasn't grown for three straight quarters and was down 7% from
a year earlier in the second quarter. This isn't a small business,
with $63bn of loans outstanding in the second quarter, or around
18% of Citi's institutional loans world-wide. On a conference call,
CFO Mark Mason confirmed that US-China trade tensions have hurt
companies' appetite to borrow in the region. Citigroup is more
exposed to this than US peers.
That same international footprint means Citigroup is
less-affected than many American banks when the Federal Reserve
cuts rates, as it is expected to later this month. Nonetheless, the
impact would be significant.
A fuller story is available on WSJ.com
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 16, 2019 02:59 ET (06:59 GMT)
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