Citigroup Nearly Credits $6 Billion to Customer in Wealth Division Error
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Citigroup (C.N) narrowly avoided mistakenly crediting about $6 billion to a customer's wealth-management account due to a clerical error, Bloomberg News reported on Monday, citing sources familiar with the matter.
The incident occurred when a staff member copied and pasted an account number into the field for the dollar amount during a transfer process, according to the report. The mistake was detected the next business day.
Citigroup did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. The bank reported the near-miss to regulators and has since implemented a tool designed to review large and unusual transactions, the report added.
The error stemmed from an attempted transfer between internal accounts, Bloomberg said.
This follows another high-profile mistake in April, when Citigroup erroneously credited $81 trillion instead of $280 to a customer's account. That transaction went unnoticed by two employees but was identified about 90 minutes later and took several hours to reverse, CNBC reported.
Citigroup told NBC News that its internal controls quickly flagged the issue, preventing any funds from leaving the bank. “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,” the bank said in a statement. It added that ongoing efforts to automate controls and eliminate manual processes remain a priority.
The Federal Reserve and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency were informed of the April error, which was categorized as a "near miss"—an incorrect transaction that is reversed before causing financial harm.
Citigroup reported at least 10 near misses of $1 billion or more last year.
The bank has faced scrutiny for past transfer mishaps, including a $900 million mistaken payment related to Revlon’s debt, which contributed to the departure of then-CEO Michael Corbat. His successor, Jane Fraser, has prioritized strengthening risk management, but regulators fined Citi $136 million last year for insufficient progress on these efforts.
In January, the bank lowered its 2026 profitability target, citing rising regulatory costs. Finance chief Mark Mason said at the time that Citigroup is increasing investments to address compliance concerns, following previous fines totaling hundreds of millions of dollars for risk and data management deficiencies.
