Citi reported a strong Q4 2025, with record revenues across all five businesses, positive operating leverage, and increased capital returns. Management is optimistic about the future, expecting another year of growth and efficiency gains. Adjusted EPS of $1.81 and adjusted ROTC of 7.7% for Q4.
Buzzberg readNII ex-markets expected to grow 5-6% in 2026Citi reported a strong Q4 2025, with record revenues across all five businesses, positive operating leverage, and increased capital returns. Management is optimistic about the future, expecting another year of growth and efficiency gains. Adjusted EPS of $1.81 and adjusted ROTC of 7.7% for Q4.Read full analysisCollapse analysis
Citi reported a strong Q4 2025, with record revenues across all five businesses, positive operating leverage, and increased capital returns. Management is optimistic about the future, expecting another year of growth and efficiency gains. Adjusted EPS of $1.81 and adjusted ROTC of 7.7% for Q4.
Full-year adjusted net income surpassed $16 billion, with revenues up 7%.
Services, Markets, and Banking all reported record revenues for the year.
Wealth management saw 14% revenue growth, with 8% organic net new investment assets.
Revenue$40.855B
reported
TTS revenue$5.7B
reported
EPS$1.19
reported
Gross margin43.2%
reported
What changed this quarter
01
Guidance
NII ex-markets expected to grow 5-6% in 2026
Guidance · revenue to 5.5%
02
Margins
Efficiency ratio target around 60% with positive operating leverage
Reported gross margin was 43.2%, reinforcing the quarter's better-than-guided profitability.
03
Buybacks
Management will keep returning excess capital to shareholders
Full-year adjusted net income surpassed $16 billion, with revenues up 7%.
04
Markets
Markets revenue expected roughly flat in 2026
Services, Markets, and Banking all reported record revenues for the year.
AI, capex & demand read
AI
Platform & monetization
Management highlighted that AI adoption is scaling, with proprietary tools used over 21 million times across 84 countries and adoption above 70%, and said the focus is shifting to using AI/automation to re-engineer 50+ large processes like KYC and loan underwriting to improve client experience and reduce expenses.
Demand
Bookings & conversion
Management's tone is confident and forward-looking, emphasizing strong performance, continued investment, and commitment to achieving its target returns, signaling positive momentum and growth expectations.
Capex
Investment and capacity
Management did not provide a capex figure but said it will continue investing in technology and transformation to support revenue growth, with capacity funded by productivity savings, lower severance, and reduced transformation costs while still targeting another year of positive operating leverage.
Tone · Upbeat
Management projects strong momentum, with Jane saying 'We are now decidedly on the front foot' and Mark describing Citi as 'on the upswing, with nothing but upside from here.'
Supply-chain alpha
A1
Citi's Global Subsidiaries Group (TTS) is seeing a surge in new client onboarding, evidenced by a 24% growth in assets under custody and administration, which is partly driven by market valuations but also indicates significant new asset wins, particularly in North America.
“And we'd expect that momentum to continue, particularly with some of the big wins we've seen on security services side in North America in particular.”
Citi's EMEA operations are seeing a notable slowdown in consumer spending and loan growth, particularly in its retail services business, which is partially attributed to lower foot traffic and sales at partner locations.
“While growth has been impacted by foot traffic and sales at some of our partners, we continue to see strong returns across the retail services portfolio.”
Despite strong revenues, Citi's expenses rose 6% in Q4, driven by higher legal expenses and performance-related compensation in its Markets business, hinting at industry-wide cost pressures.
Citi's advisory relationship with Boeing indicates ongoing deal activity, but provides no specific revenue or demand signal for Boeing.
“Citi had a role in 15 out of the 25 largest investment banking transactions of the year and advised Boeing, Pfizer, Nippon Steel, Mars, Johnson & Johnson, Blackstone and TPG.”
… income was up 10% despite a challenging year for us in commodities. Equities revenues of $5.7 billion was also a record, with an over 50% increase in prime balances, as that business continues to gain share. Banking had a record year. including the best quarter and year for M&A revenues in Citi's history, as we gained share in our target sectors, as well as in leveraged finance and with sponsors, resulting in an 11.3% ROTCE. Citi had a role in 15 out of the 25 largest investment banking transactions of the year and advised Boeing, Pfizer, Nippon Steel, Mars, Johnson & Johnson, Blackstone and TPG. This all drove a 30 basis point year-over-year increase in our investment banking wallet share. Overall, revenues were up 32% whilst keeping expenses flat, showing the discipline we are applying to this business. Wealth delivered another year of strong performance in 2025, including 14% revenue growth, 8% organic NNIA growth, and an ROTCE of over 12%. It's a direct result of the strategy we've executed over the past two years, attracting and retaining industry-leading talent and driving better operating efficiency that's allowed us to invest in key growth areas. And that includes notable …
Citi's wealth management partnership with BlackRock is deepening, indicating a push into asset management distribution that could benefit BlackRock's flows.
“it includes notable partnerships, with industry leaders such as BlackRock that have enhanced our open architecture platform and are elevating the client experience.”
Citi's Costco co-brand card is contributing to growth, though specific metrics for Costco are not disclosed.
“robust engagement from customers in spend, borrowing, and new account acquisitions across our proprietary offerings and our American Airlines and Costco partnerships.”
… enhanced our open architecture platform and are elevating the client experience. The integration of the retail bank into wealth makes it easier to deepen share with existing clients and unifies our U.S. deposit franchise. USPB's returns more than doubled for the year, reaching mid-teens driven by continued product innovation, solid customer engagement, and a high-quality card portfolio. Branded cards revenue grew 8%, driven by robust engagement from customers in spend, borrowing, and new account acquisitions across our proprietary offerings and our American Airlines and Costco partnerships. While retail services showed some revenue softness, the business's returns remained solid. In terms of capital, we repurchased over $13 billion in common shares during the year, including $4.5 billion in the fourth quarter as part of our $20 billion plan. Increasing our dividend resulted in a total capital return of over $17.5 billion, the most since the pandemic. We ended the year with a CT1 ratio of 13.2%. which is 160 basis points above our regulatory capital requirement. So we have ample capital to support our growth and we will continue to return excess capital to our shareholders. We …
Citi's EMEA operations are seeing a notable slowdown in consumer spending and loan growth, particularly in its retail services business, which is partially attributed to lower foot traffic and sales at partner locations. — This indicates a potential softening in consumer credit demand, which may foreshadow lower payment volumes for network giants like Visa and Mastercard.
… partially offset by a decline in retail services. Branded cards revenues increased 5% given by higher loan spreads, interest earning balances, which were up 4%, and gross interchange fees largely offset by higher rewards costs as customer engagement remained robust with acquisitions up 20% and spend volume up 5%. Retail services revenues were down 7%, primarily driven by lower interest earning balances and lower loan spreads. While growth has been impacted by foot traffic and sales at some of our partners, we continue to see strong returns across the retail services portfolio. And retail banking revenues increased 21%, driven by the impact of higher deposit spreads and average balances. Expenses increased 2%, driven by higher transactional and marketing expenses to support acquisitions and customer engagement, partially offset by a reduction in other expenses. Cost of credit was $1.7 billion, driven by net credit losses in cards. For the full year, net credit losses in each of our cards' portfolios were at or below the low end of our guided ranges, with branded cards at 3.6% and retail services at 5.73%. Average deposits increased 2% as net new deposits were primarily …
Citi's Global Subsidiaries Group (TTS) is seeing a surge in new client onboarding, evidenced by a 24% growth in assets under custody and administration, which is partly driven by market valuations but also indicates significant new asset wins, particularly in North America. — This suggests Citi is taking market share from larger custody players like BNY Mellon and JPMorgan in a high-margin business, which could pressure their growth in this segment.
No, that's helpful. And maybe Mark, one for you, appreciate your moving away from revenue guidance, but maybe help us fill in the blanks a little bit around when we think about fee growth, maybe there's about 6% X markets when we look at 2025. This is how we should think about fee revenue growth embedded in your expectations around that 60% efficiency ratio. and any color on markets and I of at least what the puts and takes should be in terms of Delta versus the 10 billion-ish that we saw in 2025. Thanks.
… in mind the 2026 banking wallet was north of $100 billion. And so we expect a constructive wallet. We'll see what that looks like. But we also expect continued share gains against that constructive wallet. We've got a rich pipeline as we go into the beginning of the year. And as Jane mentioned, we've been investing in key parts of the franchise that will continue to pay dividends for us in 26 and beyond. So that'll be a positive contributor to fees as we think about 2026. Similarly, we're expecting continued momentum on the investment revenue side of wealth, as well as on deposit, but in investment revenues, specifically as it relates to your fee point. We saw good growth in client assets up about 14%, good growth in NNNI up about 8%, and that momentum is expected to continue in 26 as well. So that'll be a contributor to fees. And then you've seen throughout the year good KPIs in our services business and in both security services as well as in TTS with U.S. dollar clearing volumes and cross-border transaction value, but also on the security side with growth in assets under custody and assets under administration. And we'd expect that momentum to continue, particularly with some of the big wins we've seen on security services side in North America in particular. So the combination of those things I think will be positive contributors to NIR as we think about 2026. I've been pretty consistent in stressing the importance of thinking of the markets business from a total revenue perspective. And I would stick to that point. With that said, I think that one way to think about markets is probably relatively flat year over year, subject to what the wallet is. Revenues should be somewhat flat year over year. But again, off of strong momentum that we've seen in 2025, and obviously mix will matter there, what I will point out is that we have seen meaningful growth in the spread products and financing side of the business. And that obviously does show up in part through NII inside of markets. And so hopefully that gives you some sense. But again, feel good about the NIIX markets outlook, 5% to 6%. That'll be both volume and mix. And on the volume side, I'd expect to see loan growth in cards and wealth, probably in the mid-single digits in terms of loans, and deposit growth in services and wealth, probably in the mid-single digits in the way of volume there as well.
Despite strong revenues, Citi's expenses rose 6% in Q4, driven by higher legal expenses and performance-related compensation in its Markets business, hinting at industry-wide cost pressures. — This suggests that major investment banks are facing rising costs for talent and legal matters, which could compress margins for competitors like Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.
… 13, revenues were down 1% against the best fourth quarter in a decade last year. Fixed income revenues were down 1% with rates and currencies flat and spread products and other fixed income down 1%. Equities revenues were also down 1% as growth in prime services with balances up more than 50%, which includes the impact of market valuations as well as derivatives, was more than offset by a decline in cash against a strong prior year quarter. Expenses increased 14%, primarily driven by higher legal expenses, compensation and benefits, technology, and volume-related expenses. Cost of credit was a benefit of $104 million, primarily consisting of a net ACL release, resulting from a refinement of loss assumptions for certain portfolios in spread products. Average loans increased 25%, primarily driven by financing activity in spread products. Markets delivered net income of $783 million, with an ROTCE of 6.2% in the quarter and 11.6% for the full year. Turning to banking on slide 14, revenues were up 78%, driven by growth in corporate lending and investment banking. Investment banking fees increased 35%. M&A was up 84%, reflecting a record quarter that closed a record year with …
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