Citigroup says fourth-quarter profit dropped on legal costs

NEW YORK - Citigroup (C) said its fourth-quarter profit dropped 86 percent after incurring large legal and restructuring charges.

The bank earned $350 million, or 6 cents a share, for the three-month period ending in December, compared with a profit of $2.5 billion, or 0.77 cents a share, for the same period a year ago.

The bank said in December that it would incur charges of $3.5 billion in the fourth quarter to cover the costs associated with investigations into currency trading, the manipulation of a key interest rate, as well as anti-money laundering and related probes. Money was also allocated for reducing the bank's headcount and cutting its real-estate holdings.

Revenue was flat at $17.78 billion.

The results fell short of analysts' estimate of 10 cents a share, according to FactSet.