Citigroup, Inc.

Hello and welcome to Citi's third quarter 2019 earnings review with Chief Executive Officer Mike Corbett and Chief Financial Officer Mark Mason. Today's call will be hosted by Elizabeth Lynn, Head of Citi Investor Relations. We ask that you please hold all questions until the completion of the formal remarks, at which time you will be given instructions for the question and answer session. Also, as a reminder, this conference call is being recorded. If you have any objections, please disconnect at this time. Ms. Lynn, you may begin your conference.

Thank you, Operator. Good morning, and thank you all for joining us. On our call today, our CEO, Mike Corbat, will speak first. Then Mark Mason, our CFO, will take you through the earnings presentation, which is available for download on our website, citygroup.com. Afterward, we will be happy to take questions. Before we get started, I'd like to remind you that today's presentation may contain forward-looking statements which are based on management's current expectations and are subject to uncertainty and changes in circumstances. Actual results, capital, and other financial conditions may differ materially from these statements due to a variety of factors, including the precautionary statements referenced in our discussion today and and those included in our SEC filings, including, without limitation, the risk factor section of our Form 10-K. With that said, let me turn it over to Mike.

Thank you, Liz, and good morning, everyone. This morning, we reported earnings of $4.9 billion for the third quarter of 2019. Our earnings per share of $2.07 were 20% higher than a year ago. Our return on tangible common equity was 12.2%, bringing our year-to-date return to 12%. which remains our target for the year. We also had loan and deposit growth for the 15th consecutive quarter. We again saw balanced underlying growth in global consumer banking with a 4% increase in revenues and EBIT growth of 17%. In North America, growth in our branded cards business accelerated to 11% from last year. Deposit momentum continued, with a strong contribution from both traditional and digital channels as we leveraged our brand and scale in credit cards to drive deeper multi-product relationships with our clients. Internationally, EBIT was up 26%, excluding the gain on sale last year. In Mexico, we continue to manage through a slower growth environment through expense and credit discipline. In Asia, investor sentiment continued to improve, resulting in higher wealth management revenues. Our institutional clients group also had balanced performance, with solid results in both the market-sensitive and accrual-type businesses. Our share gains continued in investment banking, while our markets performance showed resilience due to strong client engagement. The backbone of our global network, Treasury and Trade Solutions, had strong revenue growth of 7% in constant dollars, while the private bank grew as well. In addition to achieving stronger business performance, we remain focused on improving the returns we deliver to our shareholders through our capital planning. Consistent with the commitment we made in 2017, we remain on pace to return over $60 billion of capital to our shareholders over a three-year period, which ends next year. The plan includes significant buybacks, which have lowered our common shares outstanding by 259 million shares, or 11% in the last year alone. Combined with 6% growth in net income, they've helped drive our tangible book value per share up 12%. For now, we're focused on closing out the year and planning for 2020. The environment is highly unpredictable, given how much of it is at the mercy of political machinations. whether it's trade negotiations or even the elusive resolution on Brexit. We will help our clients navigate these choppy waters while also being flexible and adaptable when it comes to our own resource allocation. Despite it all, we remain committed to investing in the products in which we see the best growth opportunities as well as in our own infrastructure for the purpose of safety and soundness. We have the leading global network and we're going to maximize our competitive advantages. I'll now turn it over to Mark, and then we'd be happy to take your questions.