Goldman Sachs and Citigroup report results

Fourth quarter earnings have been reported by both Goldman Sachs and Citigroup.

Goldman Sachs revealed its net revenues for the October-December period were $34.21 billion (£20.96 billion), while net earnings were $8.04 billion for the year ended December 31st  2013.

In contrast, Citigroup's results showed that its net income for the fourth quarter of last year was $2.7 billion, while revenues for the period were recorded at $17.8 billion.

Michael Corbat, Citigroup's chief executive officer, admitted that the bank had not finished the year as strongly as had been hoped, but said substantial progress was made over the course of the year.

He said: "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."

In its statement, Goldman Sachs announced that it continued its leadership in investment banking during 2013, ranking first in worldwide announced and completed mergers and acquisitions for the year.

Challenging environment

Lloyd C Blankfein, chairman and chief executive officer at the bank, stated that advancing its client franchise and ensuring continued cost discipline has allowed Goldman Sachs to "provide solid returns even in a somewhat challenging environment".

He added: "We believe that we are well positioned to generate solid returns as the economy continues to heal and provide considerable upside for our shareholders as conditions materially improve."

The share price of Goldman Sachs is up in after-hours trading in the US today (January 17th) on the back of the results. Stocks were up by 0.38 per cent. Citigroup's share price dropped slightly in after-hours trading following the release of its fourth quarter results and stocks were down by 0.06 per cent.

The release of new results from Citigroup and Goldman Sachs comes shortly after Bank of America confirmed a rise in its profits.

It reported net income of $3.4 billion, which was a rise from $732 million a year earlier. The bank's chief financial officer Bruce Thompson said it now has one of the strongest balance sheets in its history.

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