Citi CFO Reportedly Expects Q4 Investment Banking Fees To Rise Up To 30%: Retail’s Not Convinced Yet

Mark Mason said he expects the bank to be on the high end of revenue guidance for 2024 when it announces its fourth-quarter and full-year results in mid-January, according to a Reuters report.

Shares of Citigroup Inc (C) rose over 1% on Tuesday after the bank’s chief financial officer (CFO) Mark Mason reportedly said the lender expects 25% to 30% year-over-year rise in its investment banking fees in the fourth quarter of 2024.

Mason was speaking at the Goldman Sachs Financial Services Conference in New York.

The executive also said he expects the bank to be on the high end of revenue guidance for 2024 when it announces its fourth-quarter and full-year results in mid-January. "The global economy has proven to be quite resilient," Mason said, according to a Reuters report.

During the third quarter, investment banking revenue was up 31% year-over-year (YoY) to $934 million, driven by a 44% increase in fees.

The investment banking fee increase was led by strength in Debt Capital Markets, which benefited from continued strong investment grade issuance, and an increase in Advisory due to strong announced deal volume from earlier this year coming to fruition.

CEO Jane Fraser had said that while the bank continues making substantial investments in its transformation, efficiencies gained from simplification and other efforts drove a 2% reduction in expenses.

“We are on track to meet our expense and revenue targets for the year and look to close out 2024 with momentum as we prepare for 2025,” she said in a statement.

Despite the positive comments by the CFO, retail sentiment on Stocktwits inched lower into the ‘bearish’ territory (44/100) from ‘neutral’ a day ago.

Meanwhile, shares of the bank have risen by over 36% since the beginning of the year.

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