Citigroup mistakenly credited a customer’s account with a staggering $81 trillion instead of the intended $280 in a transaction error that took hours to reverse, according to a report by the Financial Times on Friday.
The mistake, which occurred in April, went unnoticed by two employees responsible for processing and verifying payments. A third employee eventually caught the error about an hour and a half after the transaction had been processed, leading to its reversal several hours later.
No funds actually left the bank, and Citi disclosed the incident—classified as a “near miss” in banking terms—to U.S. regulators, including the Federal Reserve and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.
In a statement to Reuters, Citi said its internal controls quickly detected the mistake and that the issue had no impact on the bank or the client.
According to an internal report cited by FT, Citi had 10 near-miss transactions worth $1 billion or more last year, down from 13 in the previous year. The bank has been under regulatory scrutiny for risk management and compliance failures, including a $136 million fine in July 2023 and a $400 million penalty in 2020.
Citi Chief Financial Officer Mark Mason recently emphasized the bank’s ongoing investments in improving its data, technology, and regulatory reporting processes to prevent such errors.
