Citi makes $2.9B profit in Q1 with India, China stake sales

The sale of Citigroup stakes in India and China boosted the bank's revenue as it profited US$2.9 billion in the first quarter of 2012.

That meant a drop of 2 percent compared to the same quarter last year, but a big jump on the bank's profit of $1.2 billion in the fourth quarter of 2011 when financial markets were floundering under the effects of the Eurozone financial crisis.

Revenues rose 4 percent to $20.7 billion as the US banking giant made $1.1 billion on the sale of its remaining stake in India's Housing Development Finance Corporation and $542 million of its stake in Shanghai Pudong Development Bank.

But Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit was cautious about the recovery.

"While the operating environment improved in the first quarter, there is still much macro uncertainty and we will continue to manage risk carefully," he said.

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