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The Philippine central bank said on Friday (Aug 5) it will fine Rizal Commercial Banking Corp (RCBC)1 billion pesos (S$28.6million) in relation to the Bangladesh Bank cyber heist,one of the largestdigital bank theftsin history.
The central bank said in a statement that it was the largest amount it has ever approved “as part of its supervisory enforcement actions” on a bank.
RCBC said separately that it will pay the fine over a one-year period.
After the fine was announced, RCBC President and Chief Executive Officer Gil Buenaventura said in a statement: “With this payment, RCBC affirms its continued viability and determination to fulfil its firm commitment against money laundering, terrorism and other transnational crimes to ensure the stability of the banking system.”
The unknown hackers tried to steal nearly US$1 billion from the Bangladesh Bank account between Feb 4 and Feb 5, and succeeded in transferring US$81 million to four accounts at RCBC in Manila.
Bangladeshi officials say the money was able to disappear into the casino industry because of systemic failures at RCBC, not just individual errors by some of its officers.
A Bangladesh central bank team is currently in Manila to try and recover some of the lost money, but said they were close to getting back only US$15 million.
RCBC has challenged Bangladesh Bank to take it to court.The bank told Reuters that the "Philippine side has done its part" and that the transfers were made based on authenticated instructions over payments network SWIFT.
The hackers used stolen Bangladesh Bank credentials to issue the instructions.
"Going to court instead of the media and various Philippine government agencies is the proper procedure," RCBC said in a statement. "We will welcome that complaint as RCBC did not keep any of the funds that were released by the NY Fed and sent via three global banks after authentication by SWIFT."
The statement added that Bangladesh Bank must follow the"correct legal procedures instead of unduly burdening the Philippine government".
A source close to Bangladesh Bank, who has direct knowledge of the legal position of the central bank, said it would sue RCBC if ongoing efforts to recover the money fail.
Bangladesh Bank spokesman Subhankar Saha could not immediately be reached for comment.
(THE STRAITS TIMES)
