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A Simple Typing Error Almost Moved More Money Than Exists on the Planet. A Client of Citigroup Received, by Mistake, a Credit of US$ 81 Trillion in His Account, a Value Much Above the Estimated World Wealth
The American bank Citigroup made a colossal mistake by mistakenly crediting 81 trillion Dollars to a client’s account. The transaction should have been for only 280 dollars. This error at Citigroup occurred in April 2024.
The episode was revealed by the newspaper Financial Times and happened because of a mistake when a wrong number was typed into the system.
Error Passed Through Two Employees
Two employees let the mistake go unnoticed. A third employee noticed the wrong amount and corrected the operation about 90 minutes later.
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Despite the error being registered internally, no money ever left the bank. The institution informed the case to the Federal Reserve and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, regulatory agencies of the United States.
Value Would Exceed the Whole US Stock Market
A value of this size would hardly pass through the systems of any bank. The US$ 81 trillion would be enough to easily buy the entire Stock Exchange of the United States.
According to the Current Market Valuation website, the American market was worth US$ 62 trillion at the end of 2024.
Well Beyond Elon Musk’s Fortune
The amount would also allow the purchase of more than 200 times all of Elon Musk’s assets, valued at US$ 343 billion by Bloomberg’s billionaire index.
The value would also approach one-fifth of all global wealth, estimated at US$ 450 trillion by UBS last year. The United Kingdom alone accounted for US$ 16 trillion in 2022.
Bank Says It Avoided Greater Damage
A spokesperson for Citi stated that internal controls detected the error and reversed the incorrect entry between the bank’s own accounts.
According to him, preventive measures would have prevented the outflow of money and no impact was recorded for the client or the institution.
It Was Not the First Time
Citi has faced criticism for internal failures before. In 2020, it mistakenly sent US$ 900 million to creditors of Revlon.
The legal dispute to recover the amount lasted two years and contributed to the departure of then-CEO Michael Corbat.
