How Citigroup Makes Money

Citigroup makes money from net interest income on loans and deposits and from fees on payments, trading, advisory and wealth services. It reports five businesses. Services (Treasury and Trade Solutions plus Securities Services) moves cash, finances trade and holds custody assets for multinational companies, banks and governments. It posted a record $6.4 billion of revenue in Q2 2026 with a 30.9% return on tangible equity. Markets trades fixed income, currencies, commodities and equities for institutional clients ($7.0 billion in Q2 2026). Banking covers investment banking and corporate lending ($1.9 billion). Wealth serves private bank, Citigold and workplace clients with $727 billion of client investment assets ($3.2 billion). U.S. Personal Banking is mostly Citi-branded and retail-services credit cards, plus a small branch network ($4.5 billion in cards revenue). Most of Citi's foreign consumer banks are being sold or wound down. Mexico's Banamex is the largest piece still left.

Jane Fraser's strategy has three parts: simplify, invest and return capital. In 2023-2024 she removed the regional CEO layer, cut management layers and reorganized Citi into five reporting businesses. In January 2024 the bank announced about 20,000 job cuts by 2026. Headcount fell from roughly 226,000 at the end of 2025 to about 219,000 by mid-2026, with $800 million of severance in the first half of 2026. Growth investment goes to the highest-return franchises: Services (cross-border payments and trade), Wealth (net new investment assets of $30 billion in 1H 2026), Markets (prime brokerage balances up 60% in Q2 2026) and U.S. cards. Meanwhile Citi keeps exiting legacy international consumer banks and returning excess capital through buybacks.