The Christmas Bonus That Wasn’t

When the day ended, around $175 million had been incorrectly sent ($) from 2,000 of its own customers' accounts to accounts at Barclays, HSBC, NatWest, Co-operative Bank, and Virgin Money.

🤔 How'd that happen?... A "technical issue," per Santander. The bank double-processed payments from its account holders to employees or suppliers, meaning around 75,000 Brits or their companies saw a lil (or a lot of) extra green this holiday season.

• But somehow its customers were unaffected – the bank says all $175 million came out of its own pockets.

🏦💸➡️🏦🤦‍♀️ It's not the first time something like this has happened: In August 2020, an unprecedented black swan event occurred when Citibank, acting as an administrative agent in a loan facility, accidentally wired out almost $900 million and paid off the borrower's loan early – with the bank's own money. A federal court later concluded that Citi wasn't entitled to recoup the payment since it was made to a creditor.

• And while we're talking mistakes that cost big bucks, it's probably worth mentioning the $300,000 Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT that was recently sold for $3,000 because the owner accidentally typed the wrong price.

👁 Looking ahead… Santander is now going through a process called ​​"bank error recovery," which involves communicating with its rivals and approaching some customers directly in an attempt to collect the funds.

In the UK and US, you can't legally keep a payment made in error – but it's unclear how many individuals have already spent the money, which could make this process a nightmare for the bank. They're usually reluctant to just straight-up reverse the charges for fear of putting customers into overdraft.

• Pay UK, which runs the main payment systems in the UK, is holding talks on how to reverse the payments. Some cash has already been recovered.