Equity trading emerged as a lone bright spot for Citigroup's institutional client group in the third quarter, as the unit suffered year-on-year revenue declines in every other traditional line of investment banking business.

Citi, which on October 15 followed Wall Street rivals Bank of America Merrill Lynch, JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs in reporting its results for the three months to September 30, succumbed to the same trend as other US banks as it reported a steep drop in equity capital markets revenues.