This week has seen a peculiar case in the banking sector where a clerical error almost transferred $6 billion to wealth account. The case has alerted almost all the banks’ wealth management team to handle while entering amounts. According to a Bloomberg News, The near-error occurred after a staffer handling the transfer copied and pasted the account number into a field for the dollar figure, which was detected on the next business day, the report added.
The Full Story
According to a Reuters report quoting Bloomberg News, Citigroup nearly credited about $6 billion to a customer’s account in its wealth-management business by accident. A staff member mistakenly copied and pasted the account number into the field meant for the dollar amount, causing the intended sum to be magnified by over 1,000 times. This got detected on the business day- The report added. It happened in April, the same month that another part of the bank accidentally credited $81 trillion to a different client.
The error happened while the clerk attempted transfer of funds between internal accounts. However, the Financial Times reported another case in which Citigroup erroneously credited $81 trillion, instead of $280, to a customer’s account and took hours to reverse the transaction, as per the Reuters report. The $81 trillion error was caught within 90 minutes and was so large that the money couldn’t have actually left the bank. This process has now been fully automated to prevent future mistakes.
What Happened After Nearly Crediting Of $6 billion?
The mistake by Citigroup’s wealth division didn’t just catch the attention of regulators—it also sparked clear frustration from Andy Sieg, who had only been in charge of the unit for a few months. According to insiders, the blunder was a tough blow for Sieg, who was still settling into his leadership role when he had to face this major slip-up. Those familiar with the situation, who preferred to remain anonymous, described the atmosphere as tense, with audible signs of exasperation within the company’s offices.
What Citigroup Did Next?
Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser recently lowered Citigroup’s profitability target to allocate more funds toward operational improvements and regulatory compliance. In January, Citigroup lowered its 2026 profitability target, a move driven by the mounting costs of meeting regulatory demands. At the time, the company’s finance chief, Mark Mason, acknowledged that the bank was putting more money into fixing its compliance issues. He pointed to past regulatory penalties over risk management and data governance, emphasizing that Citi was focused on strengthening its systems—even if it meant taking a financial hit in the short term.
The incident reminded executives of Citigroup’s notorious Revlon Inc. incident in 2020. At that time the bank accidentally transferred more than $900 million to creditors of the cosmetics company. The firm recouped the money more than two years later through a lengthy legal battle.
