PROVIDENCE – Citizens Financial Group Inc.’s largest division posted a $25.95 million profit in the fourth quarter compared with a $171.28 million loss in the same period a year ago, according to a Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation filing.
For all of 2010, RBS Citizens N.A., the holding company for most Citizens and Charter One banks, posted a $39.17 million loss but still improved upon a gaping $600.4 million loss it reported for 2009.
Citizens’ bottom line rebounded despite seeing significantly smaller revenue figures.
The bank said it had $4.99 billion in interest and non-interest income for 2010, down 19 percent from $6.17 billion the year before.
Helping to offset that drop in revenue was a reduction in money set aside in anticipation of bad loans. Citizens put $2.48 billion into its loan-loss provision in 2009 but reduced that set-aside to $1.47 billion in 2010, a sign that Citizens’ executives see improving credit quality in the bank’s loan portfolio.
Indeed, chargeoffs – loans and leases that the bank has deemed uncollectable – totaled $1.85 billion in 2010, with $209.89 million in recoveries, compared with $2.23 billion in chargeoffs for 2009 and $159.85 million in recoveries.
At the same time, Citizens’ assets loan portfolio shrank in 2010.
As of Dec. 31, RBS Citizens’ total assets stood at $107.84 billion, down more than 7 percent from the $116.92 billion it had at the end of 2009. Total loans declined nearly 6 percent in 2010 to $74.1 billion, down from $78.7 billion as of Dec. 31, 2009.
Total deposits also dropped year over year by $2.96 billion to $69.81 billion.
Citizens Financial Group is owned by the British financial giant Royal Bank of Scotland – which is 84 percent owned by the U.K. government after a $74 billion bailout. It is expected to report its full-year earnings on Feb. 24.
