Net first-quarter profits at Citigroup’s securities and banking arm hit $3.2bn (€2.4bn), barely half their level a year ago but nearly 10 times the figure posted in the fourth quarter thanks to a $4.9bn surge in trading revenues and the absence of credit valuation losses since the start of 2010.

The unit's quarterly profit figure dwarfed the $328m it earned in the fourth quarter last year, chiefly thanks to a recovery in fixed income and equity markets revenues, which were a combined $6.6bn in the first quarter compared with $1.7bn in the fourth quarter last year, when when equity markets revenues were just $31m, according to Citigroup's quarterly results statement today.