Typing in Boxing Gloves

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I came across an interesting, if somewhat disturbing piece in today's Financial Times, down on page twelve, about a potential and barely-averted financial catastrophe, centred on Citigroup, who have been fined some £62mn for briefly throwing European stock markets into a flat spin with a series of cock-ups and mis-steps between 2018 and 2022. They stand accused of having inadequate trading checks and controls in place, which resulted in one particularly eye-watering instance of a mistaken sale of $1.4bn of shares, when the original trade should have been $58mn. Some ham-fisted trader accidently typed in $444bn(!) and hit the go button. $255bn of the trade was actually blocked by Citigroup's internal controls, leaving $189bn to a trading algorithm to execute sale on automatically. Approximately $1.4bn worth of shares were sold before the trader managed to hit the panic button and stop the software from selling any more. The markets responded as they usually do - knee-jerk selling, buying and shorting etc., before the inevitable carnage that would have ensued really got started was nipped in the bud by the 'Cancel' button. It's so reassuring to know that our money and economy is in in such capable hands, isn't it? Jeez, get me outta here...

Legal disclaimer: The above illustration is completely unrelated to the story and for comedic purposes only.

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