Citigroup has posted a loss of $7.6bn for the final three months of 2009, largely due to repaying government loans. Taking out the impact of these repayments, Citi recorded a loss of $1.4bn during the quarter.

The results were worse than analysts had expected but better than the $17.3bn the bank lost a year earlier. Last week, rival bank JP Morgan reported profits of $3.3bn for the last three months of 2009.

Citigroup is more exposed to consumer loans than many of its major Wall Street rivals, who derive a higher proportion of their income from investment banking operations. The bank's shares fell more than 3% in early trading but soon recovered to $3.44, up 0.6% on the day.

Despite the loss, the result was significantly better than the $27.7bn Citigroup lost in 2008 and chief executive Vikram Pandit (PICTURED) said the bank had made "enormous progress in 2009."

"It was our responsibility to get our own house in order. We greatly improved Citi's capital strength, reduced the size and scope of the company, and refocused our business strategy to take advantage of our unmatched global network."

He said the bank had repaid the $20bn it received through the Troubled Asset Relief Program (Tarp) to the US government during the year.