Citigroup Inc Q3 FY2025 Earnings Call

Hello, and welcome to Citigroup Inc.'s Third Quarter 2025 Earnings Call. Today's call will be hosted by Jennifer Landis, Head of Citigroup Inc. Investor Relations. We ask that you please hold all questions until the completion of the formal remarks, at which time you will be given instructions for the question and answer session. Also, as a reminder, this conference is being recorded today. If you have any objections, please disconnect at this time. Ms. Landis, you may begin.

Thank you, Operator. Good morning, and thank you all for joining our third quarter 2025 earnings call. I'm joined today by our Chief Executive Officer, Jane Fraser, and our Chief Financial Officer, Mark Mason. I'd like to remind you that today's presentation, which is available for download on our website, citigroup.com, may contain forward-looking statements which are based on management's current expectations and are subject to uncertainty and changes in circumstances. Actual results may differ materially from these statements due to a variety of factors, including those described in our earnings materials as well as in our SEC filings. And with that, I'll turn it over to Jane.

Thank you, Jennifer, and a very good morning to everyone. This morning, we reported another very good quarter with net income of $3.8 billion and earnings per share of $1.86, with an ROTCE of 8%. Now, excluding the goodwill impairment from the Banamex transaction, our adjusted EPS was $2.24 with an adjusted ROTC of 9.7%. Revenues were up 9%, and every business had record third-quarter revenue and improved returns. We continue to generate positive operating leverage for the firm and in each of our five businesses. The consistently strong results that we've been delivering are a consequence of how we have fundamentally changed the bank in recent years...

Thanks, Jane, and good morning, everyone. I'm going to start with the firm-wide financial results, focusing on year-over-year unless I indicate otherwise, and then review the performance of our businesses in greater detail. On Slide six, we show financial results for the full firm. This quarter, we reported net income of $3.8 billion, EPS of $1.86, and an ROTCE of 8% on $22.1 billion of revenues, generating positive operating leverage for the firm and each of our five businesses. On an adjusted basis, excluding the impact of a notable item consisting of the goodwill impairment that Jane mentioned earlier, we reported net income of $4.5 billion, EPS of $2.24, and an ROTCE of 9.7%...

Hi. So I think you said you're at least two-thirds done with a lot of the transformation. And I assume that relates to the consent order. So can you just give us an update on your actions with the consent order as it relates to risk compliance controls and regulatory data? And if you can elaborate on the regulatory data part because this current regulatory environment, I don't know why so much effort needs to go to something that's more process-oriented, which they're trying to get away from as opposed to just financial strength. Thank you.

Good morning, Mike. So, I do feel good about the progress we've made, and as you refer, over two-thirds of our programs are at or mostly at Citigroup Inc.'s target state. Some of the biggest bodies of work are now embedded just into how we run the bank and operate it on a BAU basis. You've heard me talk about risk and the progress we've made in compliance, and those are two areas where we are largely at the target state and are running through sustainability. But we're also now at the back end of the working controls...

Mike, I'd say it's a little bit under $3.5 billion in 2025. And again, as Jane mentioned, a lot of work is being put in place to execute on that more efficiently, which is going to help bring that number down in 2026.

Hi, good morning. Jane, I did just want to understand how you're thinking about the Banamex transaction. I heard all the prepared remarks, and we understand that you prefer to go with the IPO route in ultimate value for shareholders. And I guess I wanted to understand how you're thinking about the timing between the offers that you've received versus the IPO timing that you are planning on executing? And is there a timeframe in mind for ultimate value determination? Thank you.

Yeah. First off, I just say, look, the 25% stake is a very significant step in our path towards deconsolidation and ultimately a full exit, which is what everyone is focused on. We firmly believe that this transaction and the subsequent IPO are going to both maximize value for our shareholders and critically have a high degree of certainty around it...

Morning. I wanted to get to the evolution versus revolution in stable client adoption. I've seen some press releases, I've seen you join the euro stablecoin banking coalition, and I saw your announcement on Citi Payments Express. I'm assuming you're making a lot of investments towards this evolution. So I want to take your pulse on what is the pace of stablecoin adoption? How important is it to your traditional banking and payments pipelines? Do you feel like you're ahead of the curve and you can make more money, not less, as this all plays out? Thank you so much.

Yes, of course, Glenn. Look, I want to take a step back on this one because frankly, for our client base, the institutional client base, we see tokenized deposits as delivering what clients need. This is an area that we've invested in most heavily. What the clients are after is real-time money movement with minimal to no friction and low cost. As we talked about last earnings call, we've been driving innovation around digital assets for many years...

Thank you. I wanted to ask about the efficiency path for next year. It seems like you have some potential tailwinds to drive expenses lower next year, potentially lower severance, transformation spend, and stranded costs. So Mark, I wanted to ask, is that fair that you see a path for directionally down expenses next year even if revenues are strong? And do you still see the potential to exit next year at an efficiency ratio below 60?

Thanks, John, and good morning. I'd point to a couple of things as we think about 2026, and I'd just remind you and others that we're targeting an ROTCE of 10% to 11% next year. It's important that we continue to show progress in our returns across the franchise. The second thing I'd point to is that if I just kind of go back to where we are year to date for a second, we are demonstrating strong top-line momentum...

Hey, good morning. Mark, maybe just a question on NII. I think based on the guidance for this year, it seems like you're flat to up in the fourth quarter. As you guys have pointed out in your Qs, you have limited sensitivity to U.S. Dollars. So is 4Q a decent jumping-off point for next year? Can you grow from that level? How should we think about the puts and takes around asset repricing and balance sheet growth and headwinds from rates?

Yes. What I'd say is a couple of things. One, I do expect to see continued growth in NII as we go into 2026 at this point. We're obviously putting together our operating budgets now, but I do anticipate continued growth. I think there are a couple of drivers, many of which have played out through most of the year here...

Hi, good morning. My first question, Mark, is just wanted to make sure I understand all of the technical nuances that you laid out on Slide sixteen. So the CTA impact is essentially neutral at deconsolidation. In addition, we should get the capital release from the RWA reduction. I think it's $27 billion from the Mexican financial statements. Any gains and losses on sales. So the CTA is separately capital neutral, but the ultimate capital benefit will be determined by that capital release and the ultimate valuation of Banamex. If I'm understanding that correctly, what is the allocated TCE to Banamex?

Sure. Let me just kind of clarify one point. I think you've largely got it, which is there's an important distinction between deconsolidation and full exit. The deconsolidation, as you point out, will trigger that CTA flowing through the P&L, and ultimately that will be capital neutral. So that is absolutely correct...

Hi, Mark. Hi, Jane. Can you share with us—I think in your second quarter Q you gave us the interest sensitivity of the balance sheet, and obviously we'll see it in the third quarter. If I recall, I think a 100 basis points instantaneous change in rates, you guys guided that NII could decline about $1.7 billion. But if we just see the Fed and say the long end of the curve stays anchored around 4% to 4.5% and the Fed cuts another 50 basis points in the next three months or so, how does that impact your net interest income for over the next six months or so?

I think the simple way to think about it is what I shared in the second quarter was for total U.S. and non-U.S. Dollars, and it was a drag of about $1 billion or 100 basis point decline across all currencies and across the curve. When you break that down, Gerard, it's only about $400 million in the U.S. Dollar, right? That's again for assuming a parallel shift across the curve 100 basis points. We've been working to bring that down further. We'll report a number in the third quarter Q, and you'll see that number coming down...

Good afternoon, everybody. Thanks for taking the question. Turning to market, I was hoping you could expand a bit on the strategy in the card portfolio. I think with the Strata Card, you all left the impression that Citi is becoming a more visible competitor near the upper end. So is there a sort of conscious change in the complexion of the card portfolio overall that we should expect to see evolve over the few years? Or is this more just that you're kind of layering on a product that was a bit of a gap previously? What's the best way to think about that?

I think the first thing you center around is we're a leader in payments and lending today. Top three rank with the U.S. Card balances. We're growing our position by launching competitive innovations and new capabilities. As you see, you've seen a considerable expansion in our branded cards products and offering suite this year...

Thank you very much for joining us. Please reach out if you have any follow-up questions. Thank you.

This concludes Citigroup Inc.'s third quarter 2025 earnings call. You may now disconnect.