Citigroup, Financial Institution | featured news

A federal judge on Monday struck down a $285 million settlement that Citigroup reached with the Securities and Exchange Commission, saying he couldn't tell whether the deal was fair and criticizing regulators for shielding the public from the details of what the firm did wrong.

Citigroup is positioning its mainly subprime CitiFinancial consumer lending unit to grow—and thus to be sold more easily.

Citigroup's decision to finish repaying TARP funds in December is a major reason for the quarterly loss and its $1.6-billion loss for the year.

Citigroup had its worst quarter of 2009, losing $7.6 billion in the final quarter of the year, or 33 cents per share, due in large part to the company's swift push to leave the government's Troubled Asset Relief Program.