Although, Citigroup revenue grew by 1% to $20.2bn for the latest quarter, compared to $20bn a year ago including the CVA, revenue fell by 2% to $19.4bn.

Citi chief executive officer Vikram Pandit said while the group’s businesses operated in an improved environment, it also saw the benefit of its investments with revenue growth and positive operating leverage across all three of Citi’s core businesses.

"We continued to wind down our Citi Holdings legacy portfolio, which now stands at 11% of our total assets, while further building capital. With a Tier 1 Common Ratio of 12.4% under Basel I and an estimated Tier 1 Common Ratio of 7.2% under Basel III, we continue to be one of the best capitalized banks in the world," Pandit said.

"While the operating environment improved in the first quarter, there is still much macro uncertainty and we will continue to manage risk carefully. We will continue to leverage the depth and the scale of our global presence to serve our clients and grow our businesses."

According to the group’s quarterly financial statement, excluding CVA/DVA, Citicorp revenues were $19.4bn, up by 6% from first quarter 2011, which reflects revenue growth in Citicorp’s three businesses with Global Consumer Banking (GCB) revenues rose by 5%, Securities and Banking (excluding CVA/DVA) revenues increased by 6% and Transaction Services revenues grew 7%.

For the quarter ended 31 March 2012, Citi Holdings revenues including CVA/DVA declined by 47% to $874m compared to the same period last year.

The group’s global consumer banking segment’s revenues during the first quarter stood at $10bn up by 5% year-over-year, while revenues rose by 5% in North America GCB to $5.2bn and international GCB revenues grew by 4% to $4.8bn.

The securities and banking segment revenues declined by 12% to $5.3bn from the last year, while revenues were up by 6% to $6.7bn compared to the prior year period.

The group’s transaction services net income rose by 10% to $917m from the first quarter 2011, reflecting 7% revenue growth to $2.7bn while operating expenses grew by only 3% to $1.4bn.

Citi Holdings revenues declined by 47% to $874m compared to previous year first quarter, which reflects the ongoing wind down of Citi Holdings assets, which ended the first quarter 2012 at $209bn, a 29% decline from the prior year period, as well as the absence of positive private equity marks recorded in the prior year period.