Citigroup fined for almost dumping $189 billion into European markets by accident

UK regulators slapped a combined £62 million ($79 million) fine on Citigroup Wednesday for failures in its trading systems that almost resulted in stocks worth $189 billion being dumped onto European markets.

UK regulators slapped a combined £62 million ($79 million) fine on Citigroup Wednesday for failures in its trading systems that almost resulted in stocks worth $189 billion being dumped onto European markets. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) imposed a fine of nearly £28 million ($36 million) on Citigroup (C), while the Bank of England’s Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) fined it almost £34 million ($43 million) following investigations into the US bank, according to statements from the authorities. The regulators reduced their fines by 30% because Citigroup agreed to settle the matter. Without that discount, the combined fine would have topped £88 million ($112 million). The Bank of England highlighted an incident in May 2022 when one of the bank’s “experienced” traders sold $1.4 billion worth of stocks on European exchanges in error. In its statement, the FCA said the unnamed trader had intended to sell stocks worth only $58 million, but made an “inputting error,” which resulted in an order to sell $444 billion. Citigroup’s systems blocked $255 billion of that, meaning that $189 billion was sent to its trading platform for sale “over the rest of the day.” In total, $1.4 billion worth of stocks was sold before the trader canceled the transaction.