"128.2 Billion Won Fine as a Sudden Blow for One Wrong Click"

Excessive Stock Sell Orders Released by Mistake
Citigroup Fined 128.2 Billion Won in UK and Germany

Global financial firm Citigroup was fined approximately 128.2 billion KRW for causing market disruption due to a 'fat finger' error, where an employee mistakenly entered a massive sell order while selling stocks.

According to Reuters on the 22nd (local time), German financial authorities imposed a fine of 13.94 million USD on Citigroup for inadequate management of the sell order trading system.

The status board in the dealing room of Hana Bank headquarters in Jung-gu, Seoul, displays the KOSPI and KRW/USD exchange rate. This is a stock photo unrelated to the article. [Photo by Yonhap News]

On May 2, 2022, a Citigroup employee made an order error while selling company-held stocks worth 58 million USD, mistakenly entering a sell order worth 440 billion USD (approximately 612 trillion KRW).

At that time, Citigroup's financial trading system failed to recognize the abnormal size of the sell order as erroneous and sent a sell signal to the market. Before Citigroup could retract the order, 1.4 billion USD worth of orders were executed, triggering additional sell orders and causing the related stock prices to temporarily plummet.

The Swedish benchmark index 'OMX30' plunged 8% within 5 minutes, and the Amsterdam and Paris stock exchanges in the Netherlands and France respectively dropped about 5% momentarily, resulting in a 'flash crash' phenomenon in the European stock markets, characterized by a rapid decline followed by a recovery.

The German government pointed out that "Citigroup failed to prevent the transmission of incorrect orders," and Citigroup responded by stating, "We have taken measures to strengthen systems and controls and are doing our best to comply with regulations."

Earlier, the UK financial authorities also fined Citigroup 78.24 million USD for the fat finger order, meaning Citigroup must pay a total of 92.18 million USD (approximately 128.2 billion KRW) in fines to the UK and German authorities for this incident.