A team of Citigroup Inc. derivatives traders generated about $300 million of revenue this year, thriving from serving companies and investors trying to anticipate central bank decisions, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter.

The windfall was produced by the bank's U.S. dollar interest-rate swaps desk led by Geoff Weber in New York, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the firm doesn't break out results for such businesses. The group includes Dan Leadbetter, Daniel Gottlander and Mark Zaguskin, one person said.

The team's performance demonstrates that traders can still make outsize profits even after regulators sought to curb risk-taking in the wake of the financial crisis. Another example: Goldman Sachs Group Inc. trader Thomas Malafronte earned more than $100 million by scooping up cheap junk debt early this year.