, Columnist
Citigroup Finds $900 Million Mistakes Are Hard to Undo
The U.S. bank says cash it paid out in error should be returned. But the mishap suggests a problem with its controls that supervisors should take seriously.
Citi says cash paid out in error should be returned.
Photographer: Mark Kauzlarich/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
It will sound familiar. You’re doing an electronic transfer for $10 and just stop short of sending $1,000 by mistake. Sometimes bungled transactions like this go through — but rarely on the scale of last week’s $900 million payments blunder by Citigroup Inc., which paid debt investors roughly 100 times more than it was supposed to.
The problem here is not just the size of the giant bank’s mistake. A history of bad will between Citi and some of the recipients is making it hard to undo the lapse.