$81 trillion mistakenly deposited into customer’s account, Citigroup rectifies error

Two employees missed the mistake, which was flagged by a third worker an hour and a half after the transaction.

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Citigroup mistakenly credited $81 trillion to a customer’s account instead of $280 last April, an error that was reversed hours later, the Financial Times reported on Friday.

The mistake went unnoticed by two employees before being flagged by a third worker an hour and a half after the transaction was processed. The error was identified and reversed within hours, with no funds leaving the bank.

Citigroup disclosed the incident to the Federal Reserve and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

A spokesperson confirmed that while the transaction couldn’t have been executed, their controls promptly detected the issue, ensuring no funds were transferred.

The incident did not impact the customer or the bank, and Citigroup emphasized that preventative measures would have prevented any funds from leaving.

According to internal reports, the bank encountered 10 near misses involving transactions of $1 billion or more in 2024, a decrease from 13 in the previous year.