Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

Jane Fraser: It’s not that one in, Glenn. So I’ll kick off with some of this, pass it to Mark and then I’ll come back to banking. So look, we are laser focused on the growth and improving the returns of these businesses to where they should and will be in the medium-term. And it’s not just the growth story, but let me anchor it in those medium-term return targets. In services, we want to continue around the mid-20s in RoTCE. Banking should be getting to around 15%. Markets 10% to 13%. So we’d like to see at the higher end of that range. USPB getting that back to the mid-teens and then moving on to the high teens in the medium-term. And then lastly, as Andy and Mark have talked about getting wealth to a 15% to 20% return in the medium-term, but the goals to the mid-20s in the longer-term here.

And we’re confident that our strategy is going to drive the revenue growth of 4% to 5% CAGR in the medium-term. And that’s a combination of maintaining our leadership in certain businesses, gaining shares in others. We have good client growth. Look at our win rate for example in TTS at over 80%. We’ve got our commercial bank also bringing in new clients in the mid-market and helping them accelerate their growth and success around the world. But Mark, let me pass it over to you.

Mark Mason: Sure. And good morning, Glenn. And we appreciate the acknowledgement around the expenses. As you know, we’ve been quite focused on that and working hard to ensure that we deliver on what we say, we’re going to do there. I’d point on the revenue line, I’d first point to, if you look back since Investor Day, we’ve in fact been able to deliver on the guidance that we’ve given for the medium-term, so that 4% to 5% top-line growth. And yes, it was a different rate environment, but that growth that we delivered over the past couple of years has been a mix of both revenue and underlying business strength. As you think about the guidance we talked about for this year, we talked about the NII ex-markets being down modestly.

And so what that means is that the momentum and the growth that we expect is going to come from the non-interest revenue. And I think this quarter, is a good example of where and how that’s likely to play through. So the revenue topline being up 3 plus percent. But when you look through each of the businesses and if you look on each of the pages where we disclosed the revenue, you can see the underlying NIR growth in the bottom left hand corner of each of those pages that’s coming through as well. So security services up 14% with growth in both TTS between cross-border clearing commercial cards, but also — and security services, right, with the growth that we’re seeing from continued momentum in assets under custody. We expect that trend to continue with existing clients and more — and new clients, as well as how we do more with our commercial market — commercial middle market business excuse me.

So NIR growth there, the investment banking pieces, the other driver of fees, we’re seeing that while it start to rebound, we’re part of that rebound, the announced transactions were part of those in sectors that we’ve been investing in. We’re bringing in new talent to help us realize and experience that. And even in wealth, where we’re not pleased with the top-line performance this quarter, down 4%. When you look through that, we do have good underlying NII growth in the quarter in wealth, and that’s up 11% year-over-year. And it’s in the area that Andy and the team is leaning in on, which is investments, and not just in one region, but across all the regions. And then finally, the USPB piece, which is showing good NII growth as well. So the long and short of it is that the 4% growth that’s implied in $80 billion to $81 billion, is going to be continued momentum, largely in fees, helping us to deliver for our clients and make continued progress towards that medium-term target.

Jane Fraser: So let me pick up the [side] (ph). I’m sure Jenn Landis will give us the evil eye for sneaking in a second question there, Glenn, but let me pick up on banking and what’s going on there. So we have a very clear strategy that we’ve been executing over the last couple of years, really to lay the foundation for growth in banking. North America is our key priority. It’s the biggest contributor to the global IB wallet. Tech, health care, and industrials are likely to constitute over 50% of the fee wallet going forward. So we have better aligned our resources to position the franchise for this, defending areas of traditional strength in industrials and the like energy, whilst investing in high-growth sectors such as healthcare and technology with some strong talent.

Financial sponsors are sitting on $3 trillion of estimated firepower, which they are incentivized to deploy. So they’re likely to be between 20% to 30% of global investment banking fees. We have great relationships with this community. We have built that over years and decades. You are going to see us more active in the LevFin space, in the right situations for our key clients, and we will continue to ensure we are well-positioned to active around this important opportunity. You’ll likely see us seeking to remain competitive in the private capital asset class, that can be an important source of liquidity for many clients. And the middle market will be fertile hunting ground for corporates and private equity. And our investment bank and commercial bank are going to be closely coordinated to harvest the deal flow around the world.

And indeed, the new org structure that I was just talking about really enables us to drive a more joined-up, client-centric strategic coverage across corporate, commercial, and investment banking. So over and above the wallet recovery, Mark and I can be very laser focused on ensuring that we’re driving revenue growth from a more holistic focus on the wallet share across flow and episodic activity. Vis Raghavan is the right person to take over at this important moment for our banking franchise. The momentum that we’ve been generating with the foundations we’ve been laying, the intention here from him is to accelerate that. He will focus on increasing our performance intensity, driving productivity and discipline growth and he will keep us firmly on the path towards delivering on our commitments, fundamentally improving the operating margin, generating higher returns and that all-important fee revenue.

Operator: Our next question is from Betsy Graseck at Morgan Stanley. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Betsy Graseck: Hi, good morning. Or, yes — we’re almost pinging into the afternoon here.

Jane Fraser: Hi Betsy.

Mark Mason: Great to hear you, Betsy.