The main Irish unit of US banking giant Citigroup took advantage of buoyant business conditions in international markets last year to deliver a 23.6 per cent rise in annual pretax profits to €327.18 million.
The performance brought to €813.82 million the profits accumulated by Citibank Europe, the business which accounts for about 70 per cent of Citi's activities in Ireland. As in previous years, the business did not pay a dividend to its parent.
This unit directly employs more than half of the bank's 1,500 staff in Dublin.
The number of employees here will climb to some 2,050 when Citi's parent completes a $1.47 billion (€1.1 billion) takeover of fund administration group Bisys, which has a significant Irish operation. That transaction, which was made public in May, will take some months to execute.
Profits after tax rose to €285.84 million from €238.98 million at Citibank Europe, a rapidly expanding business whose profit after tax stood at only €10.1 million as recently as 2002.
Total liabilities and equity shareholders' funds rose to €8.06 billion at the end of 2006 from €6.28 billion a year earlier. The unit's main operational areas are cash management, which accounts for 70 per cent of profits, and global custody and fund administration services.
Former Central Bank governor Maurice Doyle and former Intel Ireland chief Frank McCabe are non-executive directors.
Chief executive Aidan Brady cited "greater volumes but also increasing market share across the board" in the cash business. Volumes in the custody business were well up, but margins were tighter, he said.
Mr Brady declined to make specific forecasts in respect of the current trading year but said the business continued to perform strongly. They continued to work hard to introduce new products in the Irish division, he said.
Citibank Europe said its cost/income ratio - calculated by dividing administrative expenses and other operating costs by operating income - was held steady last year at 31 per cent.
"The economic outlet for the businesses conducted by the company is foreseen to be favourable in the near term," state newly filed accounts. "The company's strategy is to continue to take advantage of opportunities for the further development and expansion of its business."
Fees and commissions receivable rose to €407.53 million from €334.56 million and net interest income rose to €70.69 million from €51.3 million. Administrative expenses rose to €127.12 million from €92.82 million and other operating costs fell to €23.94 million from €28.27 million. The business paid out €41.33 million in corporation tax, up from €25.79 million in 2005.
