Earlier this year Citi was fined for ‘longstanding internal problems.’
Photo: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg News
Citigroup C 1.38% said Thursday that it had hired an additional 100 internal auditors.
“This is a very exciting time for Citi Internal Audit, which serves a vital role in ensuring safe and sound operations as we continue to meet the growing needs of our global business,” said Jessica Roos, the company’s chief auditor, in a press release.
While the job prospects for those new hires may never have been better, the celebratory tone is odd for a bank that really does seem to need those extra watchful eyes. Earlier this year Citi was fined for “longstanding internal problems.” Those include sending almost $1 billion to the wrong place and then having the recipients refuse to send most of it back. And then there was the use of its Mexican unit Banamex to launder illicit drug money a few years earlier. Citi paid $97.4 million to settle a criminal inquiry into the matter.
The announcement is like a meat processor hiring food inspectors after a deadly salmonella outbreak or an aircraft manufacturer scrambling to hire safety engineers after a couple of its planes have dropped out of the sky—wise, even commendable, but probably not something you want to describe as “exciting.” At least the bank had better hope it isn’t.
Write to Spencer Jakab at [email protected]
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Appeared in the December 17, 2021, print edition as ‘OVERHEARD.’
