For the first time ever, since it was rescued three times by the government during the global financial crisis, Citigroup will hold a one-day investor conference, another step toward rebuilding the largest ever American bank.
The meeting will be held on Tuesday in New York in the presence of about 250 investors and financial analysts at the New York Stock Exchange, and there will be an opportunity of online participation for anyone willing. The conference was organized around a month after all US banks successfully passed the Federal Reserve stress tests and revealed plans to increase dividends and redemption of shares, and better than expected financial results.
“Citigroup’s restructuring has come to an end, and given plans to improve business performance, it is now time to talk about our path to growth and higher returns,” said Ed Skyler, head of the Bank’s Communications Department.
Citigroup is the fourth-largest US bank with assets of 1.82 trillion dollars at the end of June, down from 2.2 trillion dollars it had as assets in May 2008, when the bank organized the last day for investors.
The Citigroup meeting is expected to provide investors details of how it plans to achieve its goals. Earlier, the bank announced it plans to double its dividends and buybacks for up to $15.6 billion. Citigroup is expected to pay 3.3 billion dollars in terms of dividends over the next 12 months.
The US bank has inspired investors hope that the latest recovery of its performance is not just a coincidence. The lender surpassed Wall Street’s expectations of revenue growth and earnings per share for the second quarter.
Announcing “broad based growth of loans across regions and products,” Citi reports that its revenue has risen by 2 percent to $17.9 billion.
Net profit fell 3 percent to $ 3.87 billion, but remained in line with forecasts, and recent share buy-backs increased earnings per share by 3 percent to $1.28.
Standard Life Investments analyst Michael Cronin was also traveling from Boston to the conference. The analyst said that investors are looking for additional drivers of revenue beyond capital returns.
