Citigroup Faces Huge ‘Fat Finger’ Error, Accidentally Credits Client $81 Trillion
Citigroup mistakenly credited a client’s account with an astronomical $81 trillion, as opposed to the intended amount of just $280. Dubbed a “fat finger” error, the blunder went unnoticed by two employees for approximately 90 minutes before it was caught by a third.
Fortunately, the mishap did not result in any funds being transferred, and the bank promptly informed regulatory bodies, including the Federal Reserve and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, labeling it as a “near miss,” as reported by the Financial Times.
The sheer scale of the transaction is unprecedented; an $81 trillion transfer would likely exceed the operational limits of any banking system and would mark one of the largest typos in financial history. To put it into perspective, this sum would dwarf the total value of the US stock market, which was estimated at around $62 trillion at the end of 2024, capable of purchasing all major tech companies at a premium.
Moreover, this mistaken entry would have surpassed the total wealth of Elon Musk, the world’s richest individual, over 200 times, considering his net worth is approximately $343 billion according to Bloomberg’s billionaires index. UBS pegged global wealth at roughly $450 trillion last year, while the UK’s total wealth was valued at $16 trillion in 2022.
A spokesperson for Citigroup commented, “Although a payment of this magnitude could not realistically have been processed, our detection controls swiftly identified the error made between two Citi ledger accounts, allowing us to reverse the transaction.” The spokesperson added, “Our preventative measures ensured that no funds left the bank. While there was no impact on Citigroup or our client, this incident highlights our ongoing commitment to eliminating manual processes and enhancing our automated controls through transformation.”
This incident is not Citigroup’s first brush with a fat-finger mistake. In 2020, the bank inadvertently transferred $900 million to creditors of the cosmetics firm Revlon. This led to a protracted legal battle, taking two years for the bank to reclaim a significant portion of the funds from several hedge funds, a situation that ultimately contributed to the resignation of Citigroup’s then-CEO, Michael Corbat.
Additionally, the bank faced a £61.6 million fine in the UK last year after a trader inadvertently sold shares worth $1.4 billion instead of the intended $58 million in May 2022, which triggered a “flash crash” in European stock markets. The unidentified trader reportedly overlooked warning messages while attempting the sale.
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