Citi CFO sees Q1 fixed income/equities trading revenue down mid-single-digits

Asked about the market environment so far this quarter and any other first quarter guidance updates during Credit Suisse's virtual financial services forum, Citi CFO Mark Mason said "we're off to a very good start to the year when I look at our performance thus far," according to a transcript of the event. He added: "Our quarter is not over. But if I look at markets, broad-based client engagement, if I look at our fixed income and equities trading activity off of a strong quarter last year, I would expect that we would be down kind of mid-single-digit range, if you will. I look at Investment Banking, continued strength, good momentum in equity capital markets, I'd expect to be up in the high teens, call it, low 20s year-over-year. In our consumer business, we still have pressure from the lower levels of spending, the higher payments I mentioned. And we're likely to have higher card partner payments as credit performs well. That plays through our retail services business... On the expense side, I continue to feel good about our full year outlook. We're at 2% to 3% year-over-year increase in expenses tied to the transformation. It's likely to trend higher this quarter, up maybe mid-single-digit range, just really as we ramp up the transformation."