Quarterly mortgage production and corporate earnings were down at Citigroup Inc. The financial services conglomerate, however, did reduce its risky mortgage investments and it overall first mortgage delinquency. The rate of repurchases, meanwhile, is up significantly from last year.
North American mortgage originations were $12.9 billion during the second quarter, based on earnings data released Monday.
Business dropped from the first quarter’s $14.3 billion. The decline was in contrast to JPMorgan Chase &Â Co., which reported a 14 percent increase, and Wells Fargo &Â Co., where production rose 2 percent.
Citi’s production, however, was up from $11.0 billion in the second-quarter 2011.
Citicorp’s North American third-party mortgage servicing portfolio finished the second quarter at $190.8 billion, down from $196.7 billion at the end of the first quarter and $196.5 billion as of the same time last year.
North American residential first mortgages owned by Citigroup finished the second quarter at $92.0 billion, down from $94.3 billion at the end of the first quarter and $96.8 billion a year prior.
Based on the dollar amount of residential first mortgages outstanding, delinquency of at least 90 days at Citigroup, including net credit losses but excluding government mortgages, fell to 4.86 percent from 5.16 percent as of the end of March. Delinquency was worse, however, than 4.60 percent at the end of the second quarter of last year.
Home-equity loans owned by Citigroup in North America fell to $40.4 billion from $42.0 billion three months earlier and $46.4 billion a year earlier.
HEL 90-day delinquency was 3.32 percent, falling from 3.55 percent three months prior and 3.62 percent 12 months prior.
At Citi Holdings, the third-party mortgage servicing portfolio tumbled to $168.4 billion from $182.3 billion and was way down from $234.8 billion in mid-2011.
The residential first mortgage portfolio was trimmed to $62.6 billion at the end of the second quarter at Citi Holdings from $65.0 billion three months prior. Assets in this portfolio represent the most risky holdings at all of Citigroup. The total was $73.2 billion a year prior.
Citi Holdings’ 30-day rate on North American first mortgages was 6.91 percent, a basis point higher than the revised figure at the end of the first quarter but much better than the revised 7.27 percent as of June 30, 2011.
Another $37.2 billion in HELs was on Citi Holdings’ books, less than $38.6 billion in the prior period and $42.8 billion in the same period during the prior year.
HELÂ 30-day delinquency at Citi Holdings fell to 1.59 percent from 1.65 percent in the prior quarter and 1.93 percent in the same quarter during the prior year.
During the first half of this year, 4,100 loans were repurchased by the New York-based company versus 6,800 for all of 2011. Citi has $1.5 billion in repurchase reserves set aside, growing from $1.4 billion in the first quarter. Citi realized $146 million in repurchase losses in the second quarter.
Second-quarter earnings before income taxes across all of Citi fell to $3.7 billion from $4.1 billion three months earlier and $4.3 billion a year earlier.
Company-wide staffing stood at 261,000 people as of the end of last month, down 2,000 positions over the prior three months and at the same point last year.
Branch closings brought the number of branches at Citicorp global consumer banking down to 4,080 from 4,150 as of the end of March. Global branch count at Citi Holdings was cut to 1,922 from 2,114.
