US banking and wealth management giant Citi may have to shed assets, cut its dividend and raise capital to strengthen its finances, according to Bloomberg. The US bank may have to take the steps in the wake of booking a $5.1 billion first-quarter loss last week, the newswire said, even though the loss was not as bad as some analysts had predicted. Citi's so-called Tier 1 capital ratio - a measure of its ability to withstand loan losses - fell to 7.7 per cent at the end of March, the bank has said. Citi says it needs a 7.5 per cent ratio to provide a margin of safety and preserve its credit ratings. The bank's loss contrasts with net income of $5.01 billion a year before. It also booked $18.1 billion in asset write-downs for the first quarter. The results included $6.0 billion in pre-tax write-downs and credit costs on sub-prime exposures and $3.1 billion of write downs on funded and unfunded highly leveraged commitments. Revenues, meanwhile, grew at its global wealth management and private banking arms. In the wealth management unit, revenue grew by 18 per cent from the same period a year before, driven by 17 per cent year-on-year growth in client assets under fee-based management. Wealth management costs grew by 38 per cent, primarily due to the impact of acquisitions, a reserve related to facilitating the liquidation of investments in a Citi-managed fund for its clients, and increased customer activity, the bank said. On the private banking side, revenues rose by 10 per cent, driven by a 15 per cent rise in US revenues. Strong business volumes were partly offset by compressed margins. International revenues rose by 8 per cent. Client business volumes rose by 9 per cent and expenses rose by 6 per cent, the statement said. Revenues fell in the alternative investments section comprising products such as hedge funds. It logged negative revenues of $358 million on sharply lower proprietary revenues and a $212 million mark-to-market loss on structured investment vehicle assets. The net loss was driven by the lower revenues and a $202 million write-down of the multi-strategy hedge fund intangible asset related to Old Lane. The statement did not explicitly refer to job cuts at Citi. Ahead of the results announcement, the Financial Times reported chief executive Vikram Pandit as saying he wanted to cut Citi’s cost base by up to 20 per cent. Analysts say this could trigger job cuts of up to 25,000 jobs out of a total of 370,000 around the world "Our financial results reflect the continuation of the unprecedented market and credit environment and its impact on our historical risk positions,” Mr Pandit said in the results statement. "We have taken decisive and significant actions to strengthen our balance sheet, including over $30 billion of capital raised during December and January, a significant increase in our credit reserves, the sale of Redecard shares, the recently announced divestitures of CitiCapital and Diners Club International, and the realignment of and pending asset reductions in our mortgage business,” he said. "As we move into the second quarter and beyond, we will continue to divest non-strategic assets and allocate capital to the products and regions that will drive increased revenues, enhance the value of our franchise, and ultimately, maximise shareholder value," said Mr Pandit.