Citigroup Fined £62 Million ($79M) by UK Regulators Over 'Fat Finger' Trading Failures

May 22, 2024, 10:59 AM

UK regulators have fined Citigroup £62 million ($79 million) for failures in its trading systems and controls. The penalties were imposed by the Prudential Regulation Authority and other financial regulators following a 'fat finger' error by a London-based trader on May 2, 2022. The trader mistakenly sold $1.4 billion in stock instead of the intended $58 million, causing a flash crash in European stocks. The error led to significant market disruptions, including a five-minute crash in the OMX Stockholm 30 Index, which wiped out as much as $322 billion at one point. Citigroup's Global Markets division was held accountable for the trading and control failures that led to the incident. The total mistaken orders amounted to £1.1 billion.