Citibank Mishap: $81 Trillion Mistakenly Transferred Instead of $280, Transaction Initially Approved Before Being Canceled

Citibank mistakenly transferred $81 trillion to a client when the intended amount was just $280. This error occurred due to the inattention of two employees who were processing the transaction. The transfer was approved and it wasn’t until a third specialist noticed a discrepancy in the account balances after an hour and a half that the operation was canceled, allowing the funds to be returned to the bank.

According to the Financial Times, citing its own sources, the funds never left the confines of Citibank’s banking system. The company sent notifications about the incident to the U.S. Federal Reserve and other regulatory authorities.

As reported by FT, there were 10 incidents involving erroneous transactions exceeding a billion dollars at Citibank last year. Such mistakes strain the bank’s relationship with regulators, leading to a $136 million fine in 2024 for insufficient risk management controls.

In 2021, Citibank faced a major scandal that resulted in the resignation of then-CEO Michael Corbat. The bank mistakenly transferred $900 million to Revlon creditors instead of the intended $7.8 million. Citibank was unable to either reverse or contest this transaction legally.