The third largest US bank, Citigroup (C) reported third-quarter earnings that surpassed Wall Street estimates. The company reported earnings of $1.73 per share, four cents higher than what analysts had expected on an average, riding on lower corporate tax.
Earnings for the quarter were also helped by a 3% and 4% increase in loans and deposits respectively. However, third-quarter revenue of $18.389 billion narrowly missed the projected top line of $18.501 billion.
The stock, which is down over 6% this year, increased 2% during the pre-market trading session on Friday.
For the third quarter, Citigroup reported in-line net interest margin of 22.7%, helped by a 7% decline in the effective tax rate.
Citigroup had last month announced that it was merging two of its businesses – Investment bank and capital markets – in order to gain a competitive edge in advisory and capital market deals.
Earlier today, rival JPMorgan Chase’s (JPM) shares rose over 1% during pre-market trading after it posted better-than-expected earnings during the third quarter, driven by strong performance in retail banking.