Originally Posted by
VegasGambler
Let's be honest here. Someone, or some department, at Citi, almost certainly had "number of new accounts" as a KPI. They intentionally opened the floodgates to boost their numbers. I can't prove this but there's little doubt in my mind.
It is pretty far fetched to think a bank would intentionally allow new accounts to be opened without any type of oversight. It could never happen.
Wells Fargo Opened a Couple Million Fake Accounts
Wells Fargo has strict quotas regulating the number of daily "solutions" that its bankers must reach; these "solutions" include the opening of all new banking and credit card accounts. Managers constantly hound, berate, demean and threaten employees to meet these unreachable quotas.
(I think your theory has a lot of merit as to the why and how.)