Bangladesh Bank set aside the US$81 million stolen from its Fed reserves as 'other receivable' in its balance sheet.
Officials said the board of directors of the central bank approved the BB balance sheet for the fiscal year (FY) 2015-16 leaving out the lost amount from the main account.
The approval was given in a meeting of the bank's board held at its headquarters Monday with BB Governor Fazle Kabir in the chair.
"We've kept our stolen money in other assets as other receivable in Bangladesh Bank Accounts for 2015-16," a senior BB director told the FE after the meeting.
He also said the central bank's top decision-making body took such decision on a note of optimism as commercial auditors expressed satisfaction over recovery initiatives by the BB.
"We're still working to recover the entire $81 million stolen money from the Philippines," the director explained.
On the other hand, the $81 million stolen through a trans-national cyber heist has already been deducted from BB's reserves in line with the International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS), according to a BB senior official.
He also said the BB is now counting its reserves in line with the IFRS.
"So the stolen fund has already been deducted from our reserve," the central banker noted.
Talking to the FE, another BB official said other receivable and protested bill is almost same but they kept the stolen money in other assets as other receivable as per their auditors' recommendations.
The BB official also said the central bank also maintained requirements of the IFRS in this connection.
Regarding provisioning against the stolen fund, the central banker said the process of recovering the money is on and there is a possibility of getting it back.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) earlier had recommended that the BB show the stolen fund in other assets as protested bill in the balance-sheet alongside keeping provision.
The cyber fraud took place on the night of February 4 through a total of 35 transfer orders sent into the US Federal Reserve Bank in New York, where the central bank of Bangladesh maintains a foreign-exchange account.
Nearly $20 million of the total $101 million siphoned-off money was recovered from Sri Lanka. The lion's share of the money landed in the Philippines.
The BB board also approved four incentive bonuses for the financial year (FY) 16 for its employees instead of five in the previous fiscal year.
Expressing frustration over the cut in bonuses, a leader of the BB Officers Welfare Council said the curtailment of such incentives might hamper the overall activities of the central bank.
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