When Citigroup chief executive Vikram Pandit announced details of the struggling US bank’s drastic restructuring this month, it put an end to suggestions of a complete break-up and sell-off of the 200-year-old institution.

The news that Citigroup is to be divided into two separate units came as the company published its results for the fourth quarter of last year, which showed a net loss of $8.3bn (€6.4bn) over the three-month period.