Citigroup posted a 57 percent decline in profit Monday for its third quarter, setting the stage for other big banks' earnings reports, which are due later this week.
The nation's largest bank cited losses from bad loans, mortgage write-offs and other credit issues in reporting its earnings falloff.
Citigroup's banking services include nationwide consumer-finance operations. Its CitiFinancial consumer-lending arm has more than two dozen Central Florida locations.
The New York-based financial giant said its third quarter profit slipped to $2.38 billion, or 47 cents a share, down from $5.51 billion, or $1.10 a share, in the year-ago period.
Analysts polled by Thomson First Call had a consensus forecast of 44 cents a share.
Revenue rose 6 percent to $22.66 billion. Citi and other major banks -- including Bank of America -- are expected to take as much as $22 billion in write-offs related to the mortgage market meltdown, according to recent announcements and analyst forecasts.
"This was a disappointing quarter, even in the context of the dislocations in the subprime mortgage and credit markets," said Chuck Prince, Citi's chief executive. "A significant amount of our income decline was in our fixed-income business."
Reflecting the recent mortgage and credit woes, Citi said revenue generated in its U.S. markets and banking business declined 87 percent in the July-to-September quarter.
Citigroup's shares fell $1.63, or 3.4 percent, to close Monday at $46.24.