Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) Q2 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

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Jane Fraser: Thanks, Mike. I’ll kick it off and then send it back to Mark. In terms of the expense side, I think we’ve been very transparent about the arc of our investment spend related to both the transformation and beyond. We’ll continue to give you that transparency Mike. Now last year, we hit our expense guidance. This year, we’re on track for the guidance of roughly the $54 billion ex FDIC and divestitures and looking forward, we continue to guide what are the three levers that will drive the reduction in the expense curve starting at the end of 2024. It’s from the exits and I think you’ve got a clear sense around the progress that we have been making on the divestitures. And therefore, we’re pivoting, as we talked about, to focus now on really tackling the stranded expenses as we close off the final couple of sales there in Asia in the next few months.

We’ll realize the benefits [indiscernible] investments in transformation and controls over the medium term. We’ll also have the benefit of the remediation work getting done and expenses going away from that. And then the third one will be simplifying the organization, as we talked about. So we’ll continue to walk you step-by-step. What are the different actions we’re taking, what are we doing? And hopefully, we are building up that track record of doing what we will say we are going to do every quarter. Mark, anything to add?

Mark Mason: The only thing I’ll add on the expense side, and then you may want to touch on the TTS. But the only add on the expense side is the — we are taking repositioning charges, Mike. I mean, we’re not sitting still as we go through this uncertain period of time where wallets across certain parts of the industry are under significant pressure. And in taking those repositioning charges, there are going to be expense reductions that ultimately play out over the next 12-month period. So that’s the other factor in addition to what Jane mentioned in the way of exits and benefits from the transformation that will play into the cost base over the next 12 months.

Jane Fraser: And then on TTS, I think we all share your enthusiasm for this business in terms of the growth potential that we’ve been realizing and expect to continue, albeit converging now to the medium-term guidance over the next few quarters where we see it’s a high to medium single-digit growth going forward. It’s a very high-returning business and some of the indicators of how we’re monetizing those relationships. We’re seeing it both in terms of new client wins, they were up 41% this quarter. We have a sustained win loss ratio of 80% on the new deals across different client segments. We’re also seeing growth that’s starting to really kick in from our commercial bank and the expansion of clients in the middle market around the world as we grow out that franchise.

And we’ve got some very good fee growth, which as Mark points out, and I point out all the time, we’re very focused around the cross-border, up 11% US dollar clearing up 6%, commercial cards up 15%, et cetera. And we continue to invest in the business as well, so to make sure that, that 80% win ratio continues. So first bank to launch 24/7 $365 clearing — US dollar clearing. We’ve got the instant payments platform we just launched for e-commerce clients. We have payments express that is now live in the US, on track for five markets by the year-end. So it’s a story of innovation. It’s a story of investment. It’s got great returns. It’s a good growth story. And it just — it keeps ongoing. And I don’t want to diminish security services in there either.

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