Citigroup reports $4.4 billion profit for the first quarter

Citigroup reported a $4.4 billion profit for the first three months of the year amid Wall Street expectations that the company would show small if any gains. 

The company reported a 15 cents of earnings per share and revenue of $25.4 billion on Monday after losing $7.6 billion in the fourth quarter of 2009 after repaying government loans and a bank official said they remain "cautious about the environment, given the uncertain economic recovery and high unemployment" in the United States. 

"Citi today is fundamentally a very different company from what it was only two years ago," said Vikram Pandit, Citi's CEO said in a statement. 

Citi recognized the importance of TARP in its ability to recover from losses. "We owe taxpayers a huge debt of gratitude for assisting us at a critical time," Pandit said. "We are determined to repay this debt by continuing to build a strong company and contribute to America's economic recovery."

Revenues increased $7.5 billion and net income grew $5.8 billion, the highest since the second quarter of 2007, excluding the $10.1 billion pre-tax loss from repayment of the Troubled Asset Relief Program and exit of the loss-sharing agreement with the U.S. government in the final three months of last year, according to the release. 

"Realistically we do not expect our performance to follow an invariable trend-line upward," he said. "Longer-term, however, the prospects for Citi are clear and bright. And our first quarter of this year has given us the best glimpse yet of the potential of 'America's global bank.'"

Citi's news is further bolstered by Bank of America's $3.2 billion in profits and rival bank JP Morgan's better-than-expected profits of $3.3 billion for the first quarter, announced last week. 

The cloud over the improvements is the lawsuit filed against banking giant Goldman Sachs last week by the Securities and Exchange Commission.