FT.com / Industries / Financial services - Citigroup counts the cost of bond trade

FT.com / Industries / Financial services - Citigroup counts the cost of bond trade

Citigroup counts the cost of bond trade
>By Charles Batchelor
>Published: February 11 2005 19:07 | Last updated: February 11 2005 19:07

Citigroup acknowledged for the first time on Friday that its controversial trade in the eurozone government bond market may have cost it business. It also said that staff were being urged to focus not just on making money but on the methods used.
Corporate banking earnings in Europe, the Middle East and Africa fell 29 per cent in the fourth quarter of last year compared with a year earlier, Sallie Krawcheck, chief financial officer told fixed income investors.
The impact of the trade was “difficult to quantify,” but business was “not as strong as we would have hoped,” she said. “Some part may have been from some folks not doing as much business with us.”
Citigroup fell from fourth to 20th in the table for eurozone government bond issues in the six months to January 31, according to Dealogic%2