Banking giant Citigroup returns to black

US banking giant Citigroup returned to the black today after posting net income of $10.6bn (€7.9bn) in 2010.

Citi, which employs 11,000 staff in the UK according to its website and owns credit card brand Egg, posted a net loss of $1.6bn (€1.2bn) in 2009.

The bank added that employee pay and benefit expenses were down 2% compared to the previous year, to $24.43bn (€18.23bn).

Although the earnings came in under analyst expectations, the figures show Citi has mostly recovered from the losses that drove it to seek a $45bn (€33.6bn) bailout from the US government during the financial crisis.

The results follow better-than-expected figures from rival JP Morgan last week, which reported full-year net income of $17.4bn (€13bn) for 2010.