Citi fined USD 136 million by US regulators

In a combined enforcement action from the Federal Reserve and Office of the Comptroller of Currency (OCC), US regulators imposed a USD 136 million fine on Citi for not making sufficient progress on fixing data management issues, requiring the bank to demonstrate its efforts into mitigating these concerns. The news comes at a time when Citi is facing regulatory shortcomings, as well as simplifying its structure after dismissing 5,000 of its employees since September 2023. Back in 2020, regulators fined Citi USD 400 million, when they identified deficiencies in managing several parts of risk management and internal controls.

Moreover, Citi agreed to a sweeping strategy to resolve its data issues, however, a Fed investigation from 2023 uncovered that the lender still presented failings and did not make suitable progress. Representatives from regulatory bodies underlined that the bank violated the 2020 order via delays in completing milestones included in its approved plan. In addition, the OCC demanded that Citi enact a new quarterly process to ensure that sufficient resources go into meeting these targets. At the time of the announcement, officials from Citi declined to comment on the matter.

Shortly before the current announcement, Citi was fined approximately USD 78.5 million by UK regulators, including the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), due to failing its trading operation, which took place between April 2018 and May 2022. Also, the bank’s London branch, Citigroup Global Markets Limited (CGML), encountered several failings that were made public as trading incidents, one being a mistaken USD 444 billion order from May 2022.

Furthermore, Citi received supervisory communications from the PRA to improve, but its system also identified issues with a series of incidents with deficiencies. At that time, the bank was expected to focus on solidifying its systems and controls, while also maintaining a commitment to ensuring complete regulatory compliance.

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