Citigroup’s European securities and banking division has trumped the performance of its North American operations for the second successive quarter, with net profit in Europe up 98% versus a year earlier on revenues of $2.55bn (€1.81bn) from strong fixed-income markets and debt underwriting activity.

The robust performance, which helped boost global profit from securities and banking 13% to $1.86bn, may help ease criticism surrounding chief Vikram Pandit, who last week unveiled the bank's latest senior management reshuffle designed to drive the "execution of Citigroup's strategic and operational priorities".