Citi wealth revenue rises 13% as assets grow $15.7B

Citi’s wealth business reported a 13% year-over-year revenue increase in the second quarter and 16% on a normalized basis that excludes one-time items. Net new invested assets rose $15.7 billion in the quarter and net income climbed 51% to $583 million.

The results were driven by growth across the private bank, Citigold and U.S. retail banking, with investment revenues up 20% quarter to quarter. For the first half of the year, net new invested assets totaled about $30 billion. Average deposits increased 4% in the quarter, led by the private bank.

Executives attributed the gains to a multi-year effort to expand the wealth platform and integrate it with retail banking. CEO Jane Fraser told the earnings call the franchise has “a clear path” to 15% to 20% growth and cited integration of retail and wealth operations and the firm’s global network as drivers of growth.

Citi has been adding staff to support the strategy. At its May investor day the bank announced plans to hire hundreds of advisors and personal bankers; the company reported about 2,300 advisors globally at that time. The U.S. Citigold business now has roughly 900 wealth advisors and relationship managers. Citigold referral activity rose 23% in the quarter, Andy Sieg wrote in a memo.

The wealth unit posted a pretax margin of 23% while holding expense growth to 3%. Return on tangible common equity for the business was 14.4% in the quarter and 12.6% year to date. Chief Financial Officer Gonzalo Luchetti noted the margin and profitability metrics as signs of improving returns.

The bank is also leaning on technology and a rebrand under the OneCiti banner as part of the strategy launched nearly three years ago. Executives emphasized combining client advice with AI-powered tools to scale advice and deepen relationships across Citi’s global footprint.

Citi said it will continue to expand its U.S. retail and private banking teams to support client acquisition and conversion of deposit balances into invested assets.