Profits down at Citigroup

Profit decreased at Citigroup over the third quarter, owing to a writedown in the value of its brokerage business by $4.7bn (£2.9bn).

Including the writedown of the brokerage business, Citigroup posted third quarter net income of $468m, compared to $3.77bn over the same period in 2011. Revenues came in at $14bn over the period.

Citigroup took a profit hit from the writedown of its joint venture, brokerage Morgan Stanley Smith Barney.

Vikram Pandit, chief executive of Citi, said today: “Our core businesses showed momentum during the quarter as we increased lending and generated higher operating revenues.”