Citicorp Expects Loss of $475 Million for ’91 : Banking: The recession factors into the results of Citibank’s parent. Separately, Chase Manhattan reports a turnaround.

Citicorp said Monday that it expects to report a net loss for the 1991 fourth quarter of $125 million to $150 million and a net loss for all of 1991 of $450 million to $475 million.

However, the nation’s largest bank holding company, parent of Citibank, said its radical cost-cutting drive will make the troubled banking behemoth profitable this year.

Banking analysts said the relatively small loss for the 1991 fourth quarter was in line with their projections. Citicorp’s stock rose $1.50 to close at $12 on extremely heavy volume of nearly 7 million shares.

Final results for the year and fourth quarter are due Jan. 21.

Separately, Chase Manhattan Corp., another of the big New York “money center” banks, on Monday reported profits for the fourth quarter and all of 1991. Chase said it had net income of $135 million in the 1991 fourth quarter, or 80 cents per share, compared to net income from operations of $142 million, or 93 cents per share, for the 1990 fourth quarter. Final net for the year-ago quarter was $193 million, or $1.32 a share, including a $51-million gain, or 39 cents a share, from the sale of real estate in Japan and Spain.

Chase reported a profit of $520 million, or $3.12 per share, for the full year, contrasted with a net loss of $334 million, or $3.31 per share, for 1990.

Of the largest U.S. banks, Citicorp was among the worst hit by the recession. It suffered a sharp downturn in its consumer banking business and big losses on commercial real estate loans in the United States, Australia and Britain. It moved to arrest its problems by taking a staggering $930 million in restructuring charges in the 1991 third quarter, which led to a net loss for that quarter of $885 million.

Citicorp said Monday that it had continuing severe problems with commercial loans--writing off $650 million in bad loans at the end of 1991. The bank also made a net increase of $200 million in the quarter in its reserves to cover future losses on non-performing loans. But in a written statement, Citicorp Chairman John S. Reed said there are strong indications that the bad loan problem is stabilizing.

Reed said the economy is likely to remain sluggish in 1992. He said the company, therefore, probably won’t have major growth in revenue. But he said the drastic cost-cutting measures imposed in 1991 are yielding benefits and will return the company to profitability in 1992. The steps included cutting more than 5,000 jobs, with 12,000 more to go during the next several years. Citicorp said it has 87,000 workers, down 8,000 from when it began trimming staff last year.

Citicorp spokesmen declined to comment on persistent rumors, which swelled again last week among executives at the bank, that Reed would probably step down or give up his title of chief executive.

James J. McDermott Jr., president of Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, said he expects Reed will remain in office as long as his cost-cutting program stays on track. “As long as he executes the game plan successfully, he’s OK,” McDermott said. “If he deviates even slightly, though, he’s probably at risk.”

Reed is expected to announce soon the appointment of H. Onno Ruding, a senior executive at the bank, to oversee corporate lending in Japan, Europe and North America. Ruding is a former Dutch finance minister. A management reorganization is expected to include expanded responsibilities for Citicorp President Richard Braddock.