Struggling American banking giant Citigroup has announced plans to split the firm in two, as it reported a quarterly loss of $US8.29 billion.
It said it would realign into two new firms, Citicorp and Citi Holdings.
Citicorp will handle the company's traditional banking work, while Citi Holdings will take on the firm's riskiest investment assets.
Last year, Citigroup had to be rescued by the United States government in a bail-out deal totalling $US45 billion.
The government also agreed to guarantee up to $US306 billion of risky loans and securities on Citigroup's books.
Citigroup's net loss for the last three months of 2008 works out at $US1.72 per share, worse than analyst expectations of $US1.31.
Its quarterly revenues were down 13% to $US5.6 billion, which Citigroup said reflected "the impact of a difficult economic environment and weak capital markets".
