Top US banks, led by Citigroup, again produced strong profits growth in the fourth quarter and for all of 2003, reflecting imp-roved credit quality and strength in retail financial services.
Citigroup, the world’s biggest bank, produced record net income for 2003 of $17.85bn, 17% over 2002 – despite a $242m charge related to the collapse of Italy’s Parmalat.
Citigroup’s global consumer businesses were prime contrib-utors, providing full-year income of $9.6bn, up 17%, with retail banking and cards income up 24% and 23% respectively in the fourth quarter.
Citigroup’s customer deposits in the retail bank reached $241bn globally and total client assets in the private client business passed the $1000bn mark in Q4.
Bank of America (BoA), the world’s second-biggest bank, also produced record net income of $10.8bn, 17% up on 2002. BoA’s ability to grow deposits and increase market share, coupled with strong performance in mortgage, card and investment banking income and a significant improvement in credit quality, was responsible for the record earnings. Late last year BoA announced plans to merge with FleetBoston.
The third-biggest US bank JP Morgan, which agreed to buy Bank One for $58bn in mid-January, reported net income of $6.7bn, up 304%. Net income in the last quarter hit $1.9bn compared with a $387m loss the previous year. JP Morgan’s investment bank produced record earnings of $3.7bn, up 183%.
Bank One, the fourth-biggest US bank, also produced record net income of $3.5bn based on strong retail growth in accounts, deposits and loans. Wells Fargo, the fifth-biggest bank, announced record net income of $6.2bn, up 9% on 2002.
“The growth in loans (37%) was generated by continued strong consumer demand for credit including home equity, residential first mortgage products, credit cards, revolving credit and instalment loans,” said Wells Fargo CFO Howard Atkins.
