Citigroup announces third quarter losses

NEW YORK, Oct. 16 (UPI) -- New York financial giant Citigroup Inc. announced a net loss of $2.8 billion in the third quarter, a loss of $0.60 a share.

The firm said the results included $4.4 billion in pre-tax write-downs in securities and banking, $4.9 billion in credit losses and a $3.9 billion charge to increase loan loss reserves.

Write-downs in securities declined for the third consecutive quarter, but the bank's total write-downs since the financial crisis began in 2007 add up to more than $64 billion, The New York Times reported Thursday.

Citigroup said it reduced its staff by 11,000. For the year, Citigroup has laid off 23,000, the Times reported.

Retail and corporate deposits increased 6 percent over the second quarter and 11 percent compared with the third quarter of 2007. Total assets declined by $50 billion compared with last quarter and by $308 billion compared with the third quarter of 2007, the bank said.

Revenues, at $16.7I billion, were down 23 percent, Citigroup said.

"Our third quarter results reflect both a difficult environment as well as continued write-downs on our legacy assets," the firm's Chief Executive Officer Vikram Pandit said in a statement.