Government fines Citigroup $136 million for failing to fix longstanding internal control issues

abcnews.go.com:

A pair of government regulators slapped Citigroup with a $135.6 million fine on Wednesday, saying the bank has made insufficient progress in resolving longstanding internal control and risk issues

NEW YORK — A pair of government regulators slapped Citigroup with a $135.6 million fine on Wednesday, saying the bank has made insufficient progress in resolving longstanding internal control and risk issues. It's a major blow to Jane Fraser, the bank's CEO, who has staked her career on making Citi leaner and less complex.

The fines come from the Federal Reserve and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which said in separate releases that Citigroup had failed to meet its obligations stemming from a 2020 consent order related to the bank's risk and control issues. While the regulators said the bank had made progress, there were still significant problems at the bank that required the OCC and Fed to assess additional penalties.

“Citibank must see through its transformation and fully address in a timely manner its longstanding deficiencies,” said Acting Comptroller of the Currency Michael J. Hsu, in a statement.

The $135.6 million fine is on top of the $400 million fine that Citi paid back in 2020 when the original consent order was signed. Citi will pay $61 million to the Fed and $75 million to the OCC as part of this round of penalties.

In a statement, Fraser acknowledged the bank hasn't made progress quickly enough and that it is possible for Citi make itself less risky.

“We’ve always said that progress wouldn’t be linear, and we have no doubt that we will be successful in getting our firm where it needs to be in terms of our transformation,” she said.

Citigroup was the go-to example of “too big to fail” after