Excluding CVA/DVA, Citigroup said revenues of $17.9 billion in Q4 2013 were 2 per cent below the prior-year period. The firm attributed this to lower revenues in Citicorp, which it said was primarily due to lower US mortgage refinancing activity in North America global consumer banking and a decline in fixed income markets revenues in securities and banking.

“Having grown our operating net income by 15 per cent over 2012, we achieved our highest amount of net income since before the financial crisis,” said Michael Corbat, Citigroup's chief executive.

“We accelerated our growth in capital and ended the fourth quarter with an estimated Basel III Tier 1 Common ratio of 10.5 per cent, exceeding our target for the year,” he added.

Citigroup full-year 2013 net income was $13.9 billion on revenues of $76.4 billion, compared to net income of $7.5 billion on revenues of $69.1 billion for the full-year 2012.

Private bank revenues inched up 1 per cent to $599 million from the prior-year period, driven primarily by growth in managed investments and lending, the firm said.

Elsewhere, this publication spoke to Citi Private Bank about its sponsorship of the Art14 programme of arts events aimed at wealthy individuals in London. For more, click here.