The Bangladesh bank has raised interest rates, signaling a tight monetary policy for the first half of the new fiscal year. These measures come as Bangladesh faces inflationary pressures stemming from pandemic-related spending, surging commodity prices and a weaker taka currency. Consumer prices rose by 9.94% in may, surpassing the average inflation target of 6%.

Bangladesh bank raises interest rates | World Business Watch

Officials from the Bangladesh central bank are visiting Manila this week to pressure the authorities in the Philippines to find ways to return the $63 million that is still missing out of the funds stolen from its account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York earlier this year, two people close to Bangladesh Bank said. 
 
Unknown cyber criminals tried to steal nearly $1 billion from the Bangladesh Bank account between Feb. 4 and Feb. 5, and succeeded in transferring $81 million to four accounts at Rizal Commercial Banking Corp (RCBC) in Manila. Only about $18 million has been recovered. 
 
The&nbsp;Bangladeshi&nbsp;officials&nbsp;are alleging that the&nbsp;money&nbsp;was allowed to disappear into the casino industry in the Philippines, where investigators say it was laundered, because of systemic failures at RCBC, the two sources said. 
 
Bangladesh Bank is relying on internal RCBC documents to buttress its assertion that the Filipino bank&rsquo;s Jupiter Street branch in Manila ignored suspicions raised by some RCBC officials when the money was first remitted to the accounts on Feb. 5, and then delayed acting on requests from RCBC&rsquo;s head office to freeze the funds on Feb. 9, said one of the sources in Dhaka. 
 
RCBC did not respond to requests for comment, but its then president Lorenzo Tan told a Senate hearing in March that the incident was &quot;some judgment error from the people on the ground&quot;. 
 
&quot;I think what happened here is we had the IT controls, the human controls. But unfortunately, it failed in the end, in the execution,&quot; said Tan, who subsequently resigned. &quot;Yes, we are sorry this happened, but you know, it is human error, human judgment or intentional.&quot; 
 
The Bangladeshi delegation consists of Debaprosad Debnath and Abdul Rab from Bangladesh Bank&#39;s financial intelligence unit, Bangladesh Bank lawyer Ajmalul Hossain, and Bangladesh&#39;s ambassador to the Philippines, John Gomes. 
 
They plan to meet with officials from the anti-money-laundering council in Manila, the Philippines&#39; department of justice, the central bank of the Philippines and from RCBC over the next four days, said the sources. 
 
Bangladesh Bank spokesman Subhankar Saha declined to say if the bank had plans to sue RCBC, but added it was trying to recover the money with the help of the Philippines&#39; central bank. 
 
RCBS blamed its own employees 
 
RCBC has previously blamed its own employees for the ease with which the money left the bank, including the manager of the branch in question. But the Dhaka source said the Bangladesh Bank believes the failures extend beyond individual officers and that RCBC allowed itself to be used as a conduit for the illegal transfer of stolen money. 
 
Bangladesh Bank claims the documents show that RCBC should be accountable for the losses. The documents, which have been reviewed by Reuters, include emails between RCBC managers at the time of the heist in February as well as memos and emails to various RCBC officials during a subsequent internal investigation. 
 
They show that RCBC had frozen the accounts concerned at its Jupiter Street branch in Manila for about an hour on Friday Feb. 5 because of questions from some bank officials about where the money had come from, where it was going, and whether the transfers were legitimate. 
 
At 6.27 pm on that day, a temporary hold was placed on the accounts at the branch, pending further investigation into the &quot;validity of the remittances and nature of the funds&quot;, according to one memo that was sent on March 21 by the head of RCBC&rsquo;s human resources group, Rowena F. Subido, to Ismael S. Reyes, its national sales director for retail banking. 
 
Some officials at RCBC&#39;s headquarters, also in Manila, had questioned the transfers after about $22.7 million of the money was withdrawn from one of the accounts in cash at 3.16 pm that day only to be then deposited to another account that was opened at around 3 pm that day at the same branch, according to the notice sent to Reyes. 
 
However, the hold on the accounts was shortlived. By around 7.30 pm it was lifted after then Jupiter Branch Business Manager Maia Deguito&#39;s &quot;representation to her superiors&quot; that the transactions were legitimate, according to another memo sent to Reyes. Deguito was fired by the bank earlier this year and is under investigation by the Philippines&#39; anti-money laundering council. 
 
Ferdinand Topacio, lawyer for Deguito, said that RCBC could not escape blame by singling out employees for mistakes. &quot;If she had any fault, she was negligent and she was naive,&quot; Topacio said. He said RCBC did not act urgently on the stop payment requests from the Bangladesh central bank. 
 
The documents show that when the bank reopened on Tuesday, Feb. 9 after the Chinese New Year holiday, RCBC&#39;s settlements department received messages as early as 9.15 am from Bangladesh Bank, alerting it about the fraud. It sent four emails, between 10.59 am and 11.30 am, to its Jupiter Street branch, asking it to recall or freeze the remaining funds, the documents show. The reasons for the delay in sending those emails could not be ascertained. 
 
The branch processed withdrawals, totalling $58.15 million, between 10.24 am and 11.35 am, the documents show. According to former Senator Sergio Osmena, who led a Philippines&#39; Senate probe into the events, only $15.2 million of this was withdrawn before 11.19 a.m. 
 
&quot;RCBC did not perform its role properly,&quot; Bangladesh Bank&rsquo;s Saha said. &quot;RCBC is similarly liable as those parties who took money in their accounts.&quot; 
 
(Reuters) 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
&nbsp;

Unknown cyber criminals transferred $81 million from Bangladesh Bank to RSBC in Manila in February. Only $18 million has been recovered

Officials from the Bangladesh central bank are visiting Manila this week to pressure the authorities in the Philippines to find ways to return the $63 million that is still missing out of the funds stolen from its account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York earlier this year, two people close to Bangladesh Bank said. Unknown cyber criminals tried to steal nearly $1 billion from the Bangladesh Bank account between Feb. 4 and Feb. 5, and succeeded in transferring $81 million to four accounts at Rizal Commercial Banking Corp (RCBC) in Manila. Only about $18 million has been recovered. The Bangladeshi officials are alleging that the money was allowed to disappear into the casino industry in the Philippines, where investigators say it was laundered, because of systemic failures at RCBC, the two sources said. Bangladesh Bank is relying on internal RCBC documents to buttress its assertion that the Filipino bank’s Jupiter Street branch in Manila ignored suspicions raised by some RCBC officials when the money was first remitted to the accounts on Feb. 5, and then delayed acting on requests from RCBC’s head office to freeze the funds on Feb. 9, said one of the sources in Dhaka. RCBC did not respond to requests for comment, but its then president Lorenzo Tan told a Senate hearing in March that the incident was "some judgment error from the people on the ground". "I think what happened here is we had the IT controls, the human controls. But unfortunately, it failed in the end, in the execution," said Tan, who subsequently resigned. "Yes, we are sorry this happened, but you know, it is human error, human judgment or intentional." The Bangladeshi delegation consists of Debaprosad Debnath and Abdul Rab from Bangladesh Bank's financial intelligence unit, Bangladesh Bank lawyer Ajmalul Hossain, and Bangladesh's ambassador to the Philippines, John Gomes. They plan to meet with officials from the anti-money-laundering council in Manila, the Philippines' department of justice, the central bank of the Philippines and from RCBC over the next four days, said the sources. Bangladesh Bank spokesman Subhankar Saha declined to say if the bank had plans to sue RCBC, but added it was trying to recover the money with the help of the Philippines' central bank. RCBS blamed its own employees RCBC has previously blamed its own employees for the ease with which the money left the bank, including the manager of the branch in question. But the Dhaka source said the Bangladesh Bank believes the failures extend beyond individual officers and that RCBC allowed itself to be used as a conduit for the illegal transfer of stolen money. Bangladesh Bank claims the documents show that RCBC should be accountable for the losses. The documents, which have been reviewed by Reuters, include emails between RCBC managers at the time of the heist in February as well as memos and emails to various RCBC officials during a subsequent internal investigation. They show that RCBC had frozen the accounts concerned at its Jupiter Street branch in Manila for about an hour on Friday Feb. 5 because of questions from some bank officials about where the money had come from, where it was going, and whether the transfers were legitimate. At 6.27 pm on that day, a temporary hold was placed on the accounts at the branch, pending further investigation into the "validity of the remittances and nature of the funds", according to one memo that was sent on March 21 by the head of RCBC’s human resources group, Rowena F. Subido, to Ismael S. Reyes, its national sales director for retail banking. Some officials at RCBC's headquarters, also in Manila, had questioned the transfers after about $22.7 million of the money was withdrawn from one of the accounts in cash at 3.16 pm that day only to be then deposited to another account that was opened at around 3 pm that day at the same branch, according to the notice sent to Reyes. However, the hold on the accounts was shortlived. By around 7.30 pm it was lifted after then Jupiter Branch Business Manager Maia Deguito's "representation to her superiors" that the transactions were legitimate, according to another memo sent to Reyes. Deguito was fired by the bank earlier this year and is under investigation by the Philippines' anti-money laundering council. Ferdinand Topacio, lawyer for Deguito, said that RCBC could not escape blame by singling out employees for mistakes. "If she had any fault, she was negligent and she was naive," Topacio said. He said RCBC did not act urgently on the stop payment requests from the Bangladesh central bank. The documents show that when the bank reopened on Tuesday, Feb. 9 after the Chinese New Year holiday, RCBC's settlements department received messages as early as 9.15 am from Bangladesh Bank, alerting it about the fraud. It sent four emails, between 10.59 am and 11.30 am, to its Jupiter Street branch, asking it to recall or freeze the remaining funds, the documents show. The reasons for the delay in sending those emails could not be ascertained. The branch processed withdrawals, totalling $58.15 million, between 10.24 am and 11.35 am, the documents show. According to former Senator Sergio Osmena, who led a Philippines' Senate probe into the events, only $15.2 million of this was withdrawn before 11.19 a.m. "RCBC did not perform its role properly," Bangladesh Bank’s Saha said. "RCBC is similarly liable as those parties who took money in their accounts." (Reuters)

Bangladesh officials visit Manila to seek recovery of bank heist money

A Bangladesh central bank team visiting Manila to recover $81 million stolen from its account in New York said it was close to getting back $15 million of the loot frozen by the Philippines, but first has to prove ownership of the cash to its hosts. 
 
Cyber criminals tried to steal nearly $1 billion from Bangladesh Bank&#39;s account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in February, and succeeded in transferring $81 million to four accounts at Manila&#39;s Rizal Commercial Banking Corp (RCBC), which was then laundered through the city&#39;s casinos, according to investigators. 
 
Only about $18 million, including $2.7 million frozen by the Philippines&#39; casino regulator, has been accounted for. 
 
The Philippines&#39; Department of Justice (DoJ) has asked the Bangladesh Bank delegation to file a legal document staking its claim to $15 million of that, but the casino money will have to be pursued separately, said two sources close to the visiting team. 
 
&quot;We are in the final stages of recovering the $15 million, but for the rest we hope a (Philippines) senate hearing on the issue resumes so that we can get to know more details about the case,&quot; said John Gomes, Bangladesh&#39;s ambassador to the Philippines, who is helping the bank representatives on a four-day visit to Manila ending Friday. 
 
The last Philippines Senate hearing into the heist ended in May as a new government came to power under President Rodrigo Duterte. No date has been announced for a resumption. 
 
Bangladeshi officials say the money was able to disappear into the casino industry because of systemic failures at RCBC, not just individual error by some of its officers. 
 
Philippine central bank to fine RCBC&nbsp; 
 
The Philippine central bank said today it would fine RCBC 1 billion pesos ($21 million) in relation to failings over the heist, the largest amount it has ever approved &quot;as part of its supervisory enforcement actions&quot;. 
 
In March RCBC&#39;s then president Lorenzo Tan told a Senate hearing that there was &quot;some judgment error from the people on the ground&quot;. 
 
It said earlier today that the transfers were made based on authenticated instructions over payments network SWIFT, and the hackers had used stolen Bangladesh Bank credentials. 
 
The Bangladeshi delegation consists of Debaprosad Debnath and Abdul Rab from Bangladesh Bank&#39;s financial intelligence unit, and Bangladesh Bank lawyer Ajmalul Hossain. They have already met the DoJ and officials from the anti-money-laundering council in Manila, and will be seeing central bank officials. 
 
The team has prepared an affidavit citing a letter by the New York Fed to the Philippines&#39; central bank, in which the Fed said the money was stolen from Bangladesh Bank&#39;s account. The affidavit will be given to the DoJ to file with a court, the sources said. 
 
Gomes told Reuters late on Thursday he hoped the $15 million would be returned in a month. He will hold a press conference on the issue later on Friday. 
 
&#39;Prove it&#39;s your money&#39;&nbsp; 
 
Ricardo J. Paras III, chief state counsel of the DoJ, told Reuters that it has already drafted court documents to begin recovery of the $15 million, but it was important for Bangladesh to prove it is their money. 
 
The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR), a government body that regulates casinos in the country, has promised to cooperate with Bangladesh Bank to help it recover the $2.7 million it has frozen, Gomes said. 
 
&quot;The money is with Solaire (Resort and Casino),&quot; PAGCOR President Alfredo Lim told Reuters. &quot;It will put us in a bad light if the money is not immediately released to them.&quot; 
 
Solaire, operated by Bloomberry Resorts Corp, has said about $29 million of the funds came to the casino and most was transferred to the accounts of two junket operators. 
 
Solaire did not immediately return requests for comment. 
 
The Bangladeshi sources said they were writing to President Duterte, whom Gomes has already met, formally seeking his help to recover all of the stolen money. 
 
Duterte spokesman Ernesto Abella said Bangladesh Bank should reach out to the president soon. 
 
The sources said Bangladesh Bank would take RCBC to court if these efforts fail to bear fruit. 
 
It is relying on internal RCBC documents to buttress its assertion that the bank&rsquo;s Jupiter Street branch in Manila ignored suspicions raised by some RCBC officials when the money was first remitted to the accounts on Feb. 5, and then delayed acting on requests from RCBC&rsquo;s head office to freeze the funds on Feb. 9. 
 
&quot;Going to court instead of the media and various Philippine government agencies is the proper procedure,&quot; RCBC said in a statement. 
 
&quot;Bangladesh should finish its own investigation to determine who the culprits were before concluding the theft was an outside job, without fault on their part.&quot; 
 
(Reuters)&nbsp;

Bangladesh hopes to recover $15 million, but only after it proves it's their money. Cash laundered through city casinos

A Bangladesh central bank team visiting Manila to recover $81 million stolen from its account in New York said it was close to getting back $15 million of the loot frozen by the Philippines, but first has to prove ownership of the cash to its hosts. Cyber criminals tried to steal nearly $1 billion from Bangladesh Bank's account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in February, and succeeded in transferring $81 million to four accounts at Manila's Rizal Commercial Banking Corp (RCBC), which was then laundered through the city's casinos, according to investigators. Only about $18 million, including $2.7 million frozen by the Philippines' casino regulator, has been accounted for. The Philippines' Department of Justice (DoJ) has asked the Bangladesh Bank delegation to file a legal document staking its claim to $15 million of that, but the casino money will have to be pursued separately, said two sources close to the visiting team. "We are in the final stages of recovering the $15 million, but for the rest we hope a (Philippines) senate hearing on the issue resumes so that we can get to know more details about the case," said John Gomes, Bangladesh's ambassador to the Philippines, who is helping the bank representatives on a four-day visit to Manila ending Friday. The last Philippines Senate hearing into the heist ended in May as a new government came to power under President Rodrigo Duterte. No date has been announced for a resumption. Bangladeshi officials say the money was able to disappear into the casino industry because of systemic failures at RCBC, not just individual error by some of its officers. Philippine central bank to fine RCBC The Philippine central bank said today it would fine RCBC 1 billion pesos ($21 million) in relation to failings over the heist, the largest amount it has ever approved "as part of its supervisory enforcement actions". In March RCBC's then president Lorenzo Tan told a Senate hearing that there was "some judgment error from the people on the ground". It said earlier today that the transfers were made based on authenticated instructions over payments network SWIFT, and the hackers had used stolen Bangladesh Bank credentials. The Bangladeshi delegation consists of Debaprosad Debnath and Abdul Rab from Bangladesh Bank's financial intelligence unit, and Bangladesh Bank lawyer Ajmalul Hossain. They have already met the DoJ and officials from the anti-money-laundering council in Manila, and will be seeing central bank officials. The team has prepared an affidavit citing a letter by the New York Fed to the Philippines' central bank, in which the Fed said the money was stolen from Bangladesh Bank's account. The affidavit will be given to the DoJ to file with a court, the sources said. Gomes told Reuters late on Thursday he hoped the $15 million would be returned in a month. He will hold a press conference on the issue later on Friday. 'Prove it's your money' Ricardo J. Paras III, chief state counsel of the DoJ, told Reuters that it has already drafted court documents to begin recovery of the $15 million, but it was important for Bangladesh to prove it is their money. The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR), a government body that regulates casinos in the country, has promised to cooperate with Bangladesh Bank to help it recover the $2.7 million it has frozen, Gomes said. "The money is with Solaire (Resort and Casino)," PAGCOR President Alfredo Lim told Reuters. "It will put us in a bad light if the money is not immediately released to them." Solaire, operated by Bloomberry Resorts Corp, has said about $29 million of the funds came to the casino and most was transferred to the accounts of two junket operators. Solaire did not immediately return requests for comment. The Bangladeshi sources said they were writing to President Duterte, whom Gomes has already met, formally seeking his help to recover all of the stolen money. Duterte spokesman Ernesto Abella said Bangladesh Bank should reach out to the president soon. The sources said Bangladesh Bank would take RCBC to court if these efforts fail to bear fruit. It is relying on internal RCBC documents to buttress its assertion that the bank’s Jupiter Street branch in Manila ignored suspicions raised by some RCBC officials when the money was first remitted to the accounts on Feb. 5, and then delayed acting on requests from RCBC’s head office to freeze the funds on Feb. 9. "Going to court instead of the media and various Philippine government agencies is the proper procedure," RCBC said in a statement. "Bangladesh should finish its own investigation to determine who the culprits were before concluding the theft was an outside job, without fault on their part." (Reuters)

Bangladesh bank heist: Cyber thieves siphon-off $81 million from New York account, transfer loot to Manila bank

More than four months after one of the world&rsquo;s biggest cyber heists ever, Bangladesh&#39;s central bank is unlikely to extend the contract of US cyber security firm FireEye to investigate the electronic theft. Sources at the bank have cited high costs as one of the factors for the decision.&nbsp; 
 
The move comes as law enforcement in Bangladesh and the United States have reported little progress in identifying the criminals after the bank was robbed of $81 million of its money.&nbsp; 
 
FireEye&#39;s Mandiant forensics division was hired by Bangladesh Bank weeks after the cyber heist in early February. It said in an interim report that hackers took control of the bank&#39;s network, stole credentials for sending messages on the SWIFT transactions system and used &quot;sophisticated&quot; malicious software to attack the computers the bank uses to process and authorise transactions. 
 
While Mandiant has said it needs 570 hours of more work to complete its investigations, the bank has already paid about $280,000 to the company at an hourly rate of $400, he and other officials said on condition of anonymity. 
 
Another official familiar with the computer security systems at the bank said it did not want to extend Mandiant`s contract because board members were not sure what tangible results could come from further investigation.&nbsp; 
 
Further, FireEye said in a statement that it would seek to help with the investigation even after completing its assignment for Bangladesh Bank. 
 
&quot;We have uncovered and provided Bangladesh Bank and the global financial community extensive data about this unprecedented financial attack and how to prepare for the future, and will continue to support law enforcement and the industry past the close of our engagement,&quot; the statement said. 
 
 
&lsquo;Purpose of hiring Mandiant has been achieved&rsquo;&nbsp; 
 
Notably, the bank director has said that Bangladesh Bank planned to seek external help in the investigation, but only after drawing up new terms of reference on the basis of its own internal investigation, a police inquiry and a government-appointed probe.&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 
Cost was a factor in the Mandiant decision, the director said. &quot;Its charges are so high,&quot; the director said, adding a formal meeting of the board on Thursday was scheduled to formally end the contract.&nbsp; 
 
FireEye, however, said that the $400 per hour figure cited by the Bangladesh Bank officials was not a standard rate for its services. &quot;The pricing and duration of our investigative work is unique to every incident,&quot; the statement said. 
 
A third bank official further mentioned that the initial purpose of hiring Mandiant had been achieved: identifying and addressing lapses in the bank&#39;s computer security. 
 
At Thursday&rsquo;s board meeting, terms for a possible new contract for an external investigator will be finalised, the bank director said. It wasn`t clear if FireEye would be invited to bid. 
 
(Reuters)

The bank has already paid about $280,000 to FirmEye at an hourly rate of $400

More than four months after one of the world’s biggest cyber heists ever, Bangladesh's central bank is unlikely to extend the contract of US cyber security firm FireEye to investigate the electronic theft. Sources at the bank have cited high costs as one of the factors for the decision. The move comes as law enforcement in Bangladesh and the United States have reported little progress in identifying the criminals after the bank was robbed of $81 million of its money. FireEye's Mandiant forensics division was hired by Bangladesh Bank weeks after the cyber heist in early February. It said in an interim report that hackers took control of the bank's network, stole credentials for sending messages on the SWIFT transactions system and used "sophisticated" malicious software to attack the computers the bank uses to process and authorise transactions. While Mandiant has said it needs 570 hours of more work to complete its investigations, the bank has already paid about $280,000 to the company at an hourly rate of $400, he and other officials said on condition of anonymity. Another official familiar with the computer security systems at the bank said it did not want to extend Mandiant`s contract because board members were not sure what tangible results could come from further investigation. Further, FireEye said in a statement that it would seek to help with the investigation even after completing its assignment for Bangladesh Bank. "We have uncovered and provided Bangladesh Bank and the global financial community extensive data about this unprecedented financial attack and how to prepare for the future, and will continue to support law enforcement and the industry past the close of our engagement," the statement said. ‘Purpose of hiring Mandiant has been achieved’ Notably, the bank director has said that Bangladesh Bank planned to seek external help in the investigation, but only after drawing up new terms of reference on the basis of its own internal investigation, a police inquiry and a government-appointed probe. Cost was a factor in the Mandiant decision, the director said. "Its charges are so high," the director said, adding a formal meeting of the board on Thursday was scheduled to formally end the contract. FireEye, however, said that the $400 per hour figure cited by the Bangladesh Bank officials was not a standard rate for its services. "The pricing and duration of our investigative work is unique to every incident," the statement said. A third bank official further mentioned that the initial purpose of hiring Mandiant had been achieved: identifying and addressing lapses in the bank's computer security. At Thursday’s board meeting, terms for a possible new contract for an external investigator will be finalised, the bank director said. It wasn`t clear if FireEye would be invited to bid. (Reuters)

After being robbed of $81 million, Bangladesh bank likely to drop expensive US cyber security firm

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Bangladesh officials visit Manila to seek recovery of bank heist money

Bangladesh bank heist: Cyber thieves siphon-off $81 million from New York account, transfer loot to Manila bank

After being robbed of $81 million, Bangladesh bank likely to drop expensive US cyber security firm