NEW YORK, Jan 19, 2010 (AFP) - Citigroup said Tuesday it suffered a net loss of $7.6 billion in the final quarter of 2009, capping another year in red ink as the battered financial giant struggled to emerge from the financial crisis.

The fourth quarter result amounted to a loss of 33 cents a share and was in line with forecast by Wall Street analysts.

The beleaguered global bank's full year loss in 2009 was 1.6 billion dollars, much lower than the hefty 27.6 billion dollars suffered in 2008, when the collapse of rival US investment bank Lehman Brothers highlighted the worst financial crisis in decades.
Citi said its fourth quarter revenues were 5.4 billion dollars, or 15.5 billion dollars excluding a repayment of a government bailout loan, down from 20.4 billion dollars in the prior quarter.

Citigroup was the last of the major money-center banks operating in the shadow of a US government bailout of financial institutions whose foundations were shaken by the crisis arising from a home mortgage meltdown.

The government injected a total of 45 billion dollars in the firm, once the world's biggest banking group.

Last month, Citigroup repaid some 20 billion dollars to the government by repurchasing preferred shares from a US Treasury investment in the company through the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), a massive 700 billion dollar effort to stabilize the financial system.

But the government still holds a major stake in Citi from having converted some of its investment to common shares.

Troubled loans remain a concern for Citigroup.

It said Tuesday that provision for loan losses in the fourth quarter was 8.2 billion dollars, down 36 percent from the prior year and 10 percent from the previous quarter.

Despite the losses, chief executive Vikram Pandit said the banking group had “made enormous progress in 2009.”

“It was our responsibility to get our own house in order,” he said, citing a series of steps that improved capital strength, reduced company size and staff, refocused business strategy and overhauled risk management that cut costs by over 13 billion dollars annually.

“As we enter 2010, we are strongly capitalized, significantly more efficient, and are executing on a clear strategy that is focused on clients,” said pandit, two tumultous years at the helm.

Pandit said that in the near term, the company would continue to focus on “sustainable profitability and growth, and supporting the global economic recovery.”

John Gerspach, Citigroup's chief financial officer, said although the company remained cautious and continued to monitor the future impacts of its “loss mitigation” efforts, there were “indications that credit may be stabilizing or improving, particularly in Asia and Latin America.”

Citigroup shares rose 2.05 percent to 3.49 dollars as at 1950 GMT, recovering from early losses.