Citigroup narrowly avoided what could have been one of the largest banking blunders in history after it mistakenly credited a client’s account with $81 trillion instead of the intended $280.
The Financial Times reported that the error was detected only after two employees overlooked it, with a third employee catching and correcting the mistake 90 minutes later.
Fortunately, no funds left the bank.
The US banking giant disclosed the incident to financial regulators, including the Federal Reserve and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, as part of its internal reporting procedures.
A near-impossible transaction
A transaction of $81 trillion is so vast that it would be unlikely to pass through any banking system without immediate red flags.
The sheer scale of the error was highlighted by comparisons with global financial benchmarks—the total US stock market was valued at $62 trillion at the end of 2024, while global wealth stood at approximately $450 trillion, according to UBS.
To put it into perspective, the erroneously credited sum would have been enough to buy all major US technology companies at a premium or acquire the assets of Elon Musk, the world’s richest individual, more than 200 times over.
A Citi spokesperson addressed the incident, stating, “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. 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,” the spokesperson added.
Citi’s history of costly errors
This is not the first time Citigroup has been at the center of an embarrassing transaction error.
In 2020, the bank mistakenly wired $900 million to creditors of Revlon instead of making a routine interest payment.
Several hedge funds, including Brigade Capital Management, HPS Investment Partners, and Symphony Asset Management, initially refused to return the funds, leading to a protracted legal battle.
Citi fought in court for two years to recover the money, with a significant portion remaining in dispute until a 2022 court ruling finally enabled the bank to reclaim the remaining $504 million from creditors.
The episode contributed to leadership changes at the bank, including the departure of then-CEO Michael Corbat.
Other instances of “accidental transfers” by banks
Citi is not the only bank to have blundered on the front of money transfer.
In 2021, a Louisiana couple found their Chase bank account credited with $50 billion due to a bank error.
It took four days for the bank to correct the mistake, making the couple one of the richest families in the world for a brief period.
“That’s not like a one zero error or a two zero error, that’s somebody that fell asleep on the keyboard error,” Darren James, the beneficiary of the amount told CNN in a report.
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