‘Bonds have a face value of $ 1,000/-‘. That always gets a so-what yawn. That yawn might well have led to a $ 7 million dollar trading error.
Lehman was to settle the trade for $ 7,700/- and by mistake settled it for $ 7.7 million. There is no way the counterparty (Exotix) who received that sum could have missed the mistake. IT chose to keep the money and the case in the UK courts is now settled in favor of Lehman so that the amount has to be returned. You can read this fun story here.
Robert and Tiffany Williams of Montoursville, Pennsylvania, USA, kept money similarly, when the bank wrongly credited them $ 120,000/-. They had fun. But they are being treated as criminals and charged likewise.
It used to be called ‘banking practice’ but is now mostly included in the ‘general business conditions’ which no one reads. The bank need not ask you to debit your account for errors in crediting.
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