N EW YORK--Citigroup Inc Chief Executive Michael Corbat asked investors for more patience on Wednesday in explaining how the bank failed to meet four-year-old performance targets, even as vibrant markets drove profits higher in the fourth quarter.
Corbat adjusted those goals and proposed new times and conditions to reach them in a conference call with investors. Progress has not been "as fast as we would like to go. The environment is not as good as we would like to have it," Corbat said, noting that the bank has had to contend with new regulations.
"We've executed against each (of the original targets) in this environment in a disciplined and committed way, and that's what we are going to continue to do," he said.
Corbat set the original targets in March 2013, shortly after taking the helm of Citigroup. The bank would meet thresholds for return on equity, operating efficiency and return on assets starting in 2015, he promised. But Citigroup met only one of the three targets that year, and none of them in 2016.
On Wednesday, Corbat said Citigroup is capable of hitting the targets, but asked for leeway - including temporarily using a lower measure of equity because regulators have required Citigroup to hold more capital than expected.
Corbat also told analysts that return on assets was not as indicative of company performance as it was in the past because regulators now want banks to rely more on expensive debt financing as part of their drive to prevent future taxpayer bailouts. Citigroup's shares, which had risen about 17 percent since the election, fell 1.7 percent to $57.39. The stock is still well below Citi's reported tangible book value of $64.57 per share.
