https://arstechnica-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2021/02/citibank-just-got-a-500-million-lesson-in-the-importance-of-ui-design/?amp=1 ... The actual work of entering this transaction into Flexcube fell to a subcontractor in India named Arokia Raj. He was presented with a Flexcube screen that looked like this: https://cdn-arstechnica-net.cdn.ampproject.org/ii/w820/s/cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Screen-Shot-2021-02-17-at-11.35.28-AM.png Raj thought that checking the "principal" checkbox and entering the number of a Citibank wash account would ensure that the principal payment would stay at Citibank. He was wrong. To prevent payment of the principal, Raj actually needed to set the "front" and "fund" fields to the wash account as well as "principal." Raj didn't do that. Citibank's procedures require that three people sign off on a transaction of this size. In this case, that was Raj, a colleague of his in India, and a senior Citibank official in Delaware named Vincent Fratta. All three believed that setting the "principal" field to an internal wash account number would prevent payment of the principal. As he approved the transaction, Fratta wrote: "looks good, please proceed. Principal is going to wash." But the principal wasn't going to wash. When Raj conducted a routine review the next morning, he noticed there was something drastically off about the previous day's figures. Citibank had actually sent out almost $900 million, not the $7.8 million it was trying to send. Citibank then scrambled to get the funds back, notifying each creditor that the principal payments had been made by mistake. Some of the creditors sent the money back. But others refused, leaving Citibank out $500 million.
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