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Citigroup mistakenly credited a customer’s account with $81 trillion last year when it meant to send just $280.
The payment, which took place last April, was missed by two employees but caught 90 minutes after it was posted, the Financial Times first reported Friday. It was reversed several hours later and reported to the Federal Reserve and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency as a “near miss.”
The event is the latest mistake disclosed by the Wall Street bank, which is struggling to overcome a series of operational errors in recent years.
“Despite the fact that a payment of this size could not actually have been executed, our detective controls promptly identified the inputting error between two Citi ledger accounts, and we reversed the entry,” Citi said in a statement to NBC News. “Our preventative controls would have also stopped any funds leaving the bank. While there was no impact to the bank or our client, the episode underscores our continued efforts to continue eliminating manual processes and automating controls through our Transformation.”
Citi neither confirmed nor provided comment on the number of near misses it has experienced.
Near misses occur when a bank processes the wrong amount but is able to recover the funds. The bank suffered 10 near misses of $1 billion or more last year and 13 in the year prior, the according to the report.
The bank has been working to repair its reputation since it sent $900 million in error to creditors engaged in a contentious battle over the debt of cosmetics group Revlon five years ago — which led to the ousting of former CEO Michael Corbat, as well as big fines and regulatory consent orders requiring Citi to fix the issues.
Corbat’s successor, Jane Fraser, has said improving risk and controls is a top priority. The bank was still fined $136 million by regulators last year for not making enough progress on the improvements.
