Citigroup is poised to increase provisions for potential bad loans by hundreds of millions of dollars for the second quarter, in a sign of growing financial stress among US consumers and businesses.
“Given the macro environment [and] cost of credit compared to last quarter, we expect to be up a few hundred million dollars,” Citi’s head of banking Vis Raghavan told investors at a Morgan Stanley conference on Tuesday.
The increase comes amid concerns that Donald Trump’s tariffs will slow US economic growth or even cause a recession. The US president’s levies may also raise the prices of some products — notably on imported goods from China, hitting consumers.