Citibank manager banned for false transactions
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has permanently banned a former Citibank relationship manager from providing financial services for conducting transactions without client authorisation.
An ASIC investigation found that between December 2009 and August 2010, Victoria Cai, who worked for the bank from 2006 to 2010, "conducted 31 transactions between client accounts without their authorisation or knowledge and submitted transfer application forms containing falsified signatures".
In one case Cai cancelled the client's term deposit to facilitate a transaction, ASIC found.
Cai also altered the frequency at which client account statements were received, suppressed statements so clients had no knowledge of the transactions, and manually generated statements with fictitious account balances, ASIC stated.
In March 2010 Cai also transferred US$527,900 to her personal accounts from a client account, including $170,000 to pay her own mortgage, ASIC stated.
ASIC acknowledged the assistance of Citibank, which has also reimbursed impacted clients.
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