Citi's Asia results: up on Q4, but not like last year's

On Friday, Citi reported a net profit for the first quarter of $1.6 billion -- a significant improvement from the $17.3 billion loss it made in the fourth quarter last year and the $5.1 billion loss in the first quarter of 2008. But for the common shareholder it still amounted to a loss per share of $0.18. The bank's Asia results were also certainly better than the fourth quarter of last year, but on a year-on-year basis, the firm still has some catching up to do to match 2008.

The loss for common shareholders is because the bank had to cut out the $1.3 billion it paid to reset the conversion price of preferred...