Citi Trader Made Error Behind Flash Crash in Europe Stocks
- Citi’s erroneous transaction likely reason for steep drop
- Nasdaq says there was no technical glitch in its systems
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Citigroup Inc.’s London trading desk was behind a flash crash that sent shares across Europe tumbling, dealing a fresh setback to the bank’s yearslong efforts to improve controls.
A trader at the U.S. firm made a mistake “inputting a transaction,” Citigroup said late on Monday after a knee-jerk selloff in Swedish stocks in five minutes wreaked havoc in bourses from Paris to Warsaw. The bank said it identified the error “within minutes” and corrected it.