Citi completes 220K code reviews with gen AI in Q1
Bank reports tech expenses of $2.4B, up 6% YoY
Citi is reaping the rewards of its continued investment in AI and its restructuring plans by boosting its bottom line.
Nearly 220,000 automated code reviews were conducted in the first quarter through the bank’s gen AI tool Citi Squad, according to Citi’s first-quarter earnings report published today. The tool, released this year, increases coding capacity, the bank reported.
Citi armed “30,000 developers with AI tools to write code,” Chief Executive Jane Fraser said during the bank’s Q4 earnings call on Jan. 15.
The $1.6 trillion bank told Bank Automation News in January that it had launched two additional gen AI tools: Citi Stylus, which synthesizes data from documents, and Citi Assist, which helps employees navigate bank policies.
Employees have logged 385,000 interactions using the two tools, leading to improved efficiency and productivity, Citi reported today.
The bank reported an efficiency ratio of 62%, a 490-basis point improvement year over year.
THE BIG PICTURE: The New York-based bank is in a multiyear restructuring plan. It’s leaving several regions and focusing on five core business lines; banking, services, markets, U.S. personal banking and wealth.
“We maintained a disciplined approach to expenses, which declined by 5% YoY” to $13.4 billion, Fraser said. “We delivered our third consecutive quarter of positive operating leverage for each of our five lines of business.”
Under the restructuring plan, Citi aims to increase its market share in specific verticals like investment banking, business banking and payments business, Fraser said, adding that the bank has increased its market share in three segments in the past year.
BY THE NUMBERS: In Q1, Citi reported:
- Revenue of $21.6 billion, up 3% YoY;
- Technology and communication expenses of $2.4 billion, up 6% YoY;
- Net interest income of $14 billion, up 4% YoY; and
- Net income of $4.1 billion, up 21% YoY.
NOTEWORTHY: Citi’s venture capital arm, Citi Ventures, is approaching investment with caution amid ongoing market uncertainty.
The bank is investing in technology and startups that are strategic to its own goals and can deliver long-term value, Jeff Flynn, director for venture investing at Citi Ventures, said on April 8 during a Bank Automation News webinar.
“Our mission is to bring innovation that occurs externally into Citi for the benefit of Citi and our clients,” Flynn said, adding that capital markets, wealth management, enterprise software, payments and lending are sectors that are taking priorities when it comes to investing.
