Citigroup is believed to have |maintained revenues from its European cash equity sales and trading business in the first quarter of this year, despite the sharp fall-off in trading by investors.

The US bank declined to comment on the revenue figures, but Jim O'Donnell, head of equities in Europe at Citigroup, said its market share in Europe had continued to increase. It has risen steadily from 3.6% in 1999 before it bought Schroders to 8.5% at the end of last year, to more than 9% in the first quarter of this year.