Citi’s traders had an awful Q4, although its bankers did a bit better
It’s Q4 reporting season for America’s big banks. JPMorgan’s bankers didn’t do great, but its traders did okay. Neither did Bank of America’s bankers, but again, its traders earned their stripes. Citi announced its results today, and while its bankers didn’t do so badly, its traders didn't exactly match their peers.
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Equities traders seem to be the guilty party. Q4 revenue in 2025 was down 1.3% on 2024, at a time when rivals JPMorgan and Bank of America posted results 40% and 23%, respectively.
The bank did note that the fall was “primarily” offset by a growth in prime services and derivatives, with the former being an especially key market – the bank brought in Adam Inzirillo for it in September last year, which is probably not enough time to make a significant impact on the business. Speaking in March 2024, markets chief Andrew Morton said that the firm’s strategy was simple: “grow prime”.
Its fixed income, currencies, and commodities (FICC) didn’t do much better, but poor results were obfuscated by similar performances from its rivals. Sales & trading revenue was down in the fourth quarter by 0.6%, while JPMorgan and Bank of America posted upswings of 7.5% and 1.6% respectively.
Investment banking had a more positive outlook. M&A bankers had a wild 84% revenue upswing in the fourth quarter, at a time when both JPMorgan and Bank of America posted relatively flat results. In capital markets, its equity capital markets revenue fell by 16% (less than JPM or BofA) and its debt capital markets revenue managed to increase by 19%, while JPM and BofA were negative and flat, respectively.
Citi is cutting. Earlier this week, it became clear that it was putting 1,000 people on the chopping block this week alone, as part of the bank’s planned 20,000 cuts by the end of 2026. We were told before Christmas that the cuts would primarily target underperforming Managing Directors, saving money on their usually quite juicy bonuses.
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