Citigroup Earnings Are Coming. Its Turnaround Will Be in Focus

Citigroup is in the midst of a yearslong turnaround. On Friday, Wall Street will see how successful the bank's efforts have been.

Like most of its peers, Citigroup (ticker: C) is expected to post a drop in profits in the fourth quarter of 2022 as deal making fell off sharply at the major banks compared with the year-ago quarter. Analysts surveyed by FactSet project the bank will see revenue of $17.9 billion compared with $17 billion from a year earlier. Earnings, however, are forecast to be $2.3 billion, or $1.14 per share, down from $3.2 billion last year.

But more than Citigroup's financial results, the Street wants to see that the bank has made meaningful strides in improving its operations after regulators hit the bank with a consent order two years ago for weak internal controls. More recently, in November, the Federal Reserve identified a "shortcoming" pertaining to "data quality and data management" in Citigroup's so-called living will -- a plan the largest banks have to submit to the Fed that discloses how they would resolve a disruption to operations or a bankruptcy. Citigroup has until the end of January to submit a plan to address the shortcoming. The bank said at the time that it is "completely committed" to resolving the issue.

While the bank has been dealing with these issues, it has also been taking steps to be a leaner, more efficient organization, including efforts to exit 14 international markets.

During the last two years, Citigroup's treasury and trade solutions group has increasingly become a bright spot; it saw a 40% year-over-year increase in revenue in the third quarter. The unit isn't as headline-worthy as the trading and investment banking divisions at major banks, but it is a critical piece of infrastructure as it provides cash management and other services to multinational corporations in more than 90 countries.

JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Bank of America (BAC), and Wells Fargo (WFC) also post results on Friday. Goldman Sachs (GS) and Morgan Stanley (MS) will release their results on Tuesday.