Citibank profits drop 15% at Irish unit

Pre-tax profits at the main Irish arm of Citibank declined by 15% to $823.1m (€593.2m) last year.

New accounts filed by Dublin-based Citibank Europe show that the bank sustained the drop in profits after its operating income fell from $1.798bn to $1.732bn in the 12 months to the end of December last.

In the fourth quarter of 2013, the firm paid a dividend of $800m to its parent, Citibank Holdings.

The chief executive of the firm is Irishman Aidan Brady.

The directors’ report said: “The business environment in which the company operates remained challenging in 2013.”

Seven of the bank’s board members are Irish and the directors’ report stated: “Already low interest rates continued to decline in the company’s markets, impacting interest rate margins.”

“General uncertainty in the macro-economic environment also impacted corporate confidence and consequently client activity,” the report said.

“Despite these headwinds, the company had another profitable performance in 2013.”

The bank reported that its operating expenses increased from $803m to $877m “due in part to the introduction of a transaction tax in one of the company’s markets”.

The report stated that “the business and economic environment conditions are expected to remain challenging and uncertain through 2014”.

At the end of December last, the bank had shareholder funds totalling $7.1bn. The bank’s cash and balances at the Central Bank totalled $1.85bn.

The Irish directors sitting on the board along with Mr Brady at year-end were listed as managing director Tony Woods, Patrick Scally, Prof Mary Lambkin, Jim Farrell, Cecilia Ronan and Breffni Byrne.

Numbers employed at the bank fell 255 to 4,269 by the end of the year.

The firm paid corporation tax of $108.67m on its profits.