Oops… Bank accidentally credits $81 trillion to a client
Instead of $280, Citigroup accidentally credited a customer with $81 trillion.
Imagine waking up, checking your bank balance, and seeing $81 trillion (R1.5 quadrillion) sitting there. You might think you’ve won the ultimate lottery – until the bank sheepishly takes it all back.
Well, that’s exactly what happened at Citigroup – the third largest bank in the US. According to the Financial Times, the banking giant somehow managed to credit a customer with $81 trillion instead of $280 (R5,200).
The mistake, which happened in April 2024, miraculously slipped past not one, but two employees tasked with double-checking transactions.
It took a third employee a full 90 minutes to realise that Citi had essentially tried to create a new global superpower overnight. Several hours later, the error was finally reversed.
Thankfully, no actual money left the bank, and the customer didn’t get to go on a trillionaire shopping spree.
Although the incident (what the industry calls a “near miss”) was serious enough for Citi to report it to US regulators.
Citi (in classic damage-control mode) told Reuters that its “detective controls” flagged the issue quickly, and the mistake had “no impact” on the bank or the client. Funny enough though, this wasn’t even an isolated incident.
According to an internal report, Citi had 10 “near misses” of $1 billion or more last year alone, which (believe it or not) is an improvement from the 13 near disasters the year before.
The bank has been under intense scrutiny for its risk management and compliance failures. Citi CFO Mark Mason recently admitted that they need to invest more in technology and regulatory reporting.
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Apparently, making sure you’re not wiring literal trillions by accident is harder than it sounds.
Next time you’re sweating over a typo in an email, don’t sweat it too much.
At least you didn’t accidentally try to inject $81 trillion into someone’s bank account.
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