US bank Citigroup has blamed the recent turmoil on global markets for a surprise drop in revenue.

Fourth quarter revenue slipped 2% to $17.1bn (£13.3bn), falling short of analyst estimates of $17.5bn.

The bank said income on its bond trading desks had slumped by a fifth following the fluctuations on financial markets in December.

But chief executive Michael Corbat said the lender, which is America’s third largest, was making “solid progress”.

“A volatile fourth quarter impacted some of our market sensitive businesses, particularly fixed income,” he said.

In the three months to the end of December, profit rose to $4.2bn, or $1.61 a share, from $3.7bn, or $1.28 a share, a year earlier.

Citi is the first of the major US banks to post results in 2019, with JP Morgan, Bank of America and Goldman Sachs all due to issue fourth-quarter figures later this week.

source:https://www.bbc.com/news/business-46866751