BB brings back $20m stolen money

Cybercriminals have digitally stolen around US$100 million from Bangladesh's foreign-exchange reserves deposited with the US Federal Reserve Bank and US$20 million of it was recovered, officials said.
Suspected Chinese-origin cybercriminals hacked the forex reserves in Bangladesh Bank's account with the US Federal Reserve Bank in New York on February 05.
The money was transferred into banks of the Philippines and Sri Lanka by using online system, the central bankers said Monday as the trans-border hi-tech heist came to light.
Incidentally, such disclosure of digital break-ins came hot on the heels of discovery of incidents of credit/debit card skimming in ATM booths of banks at home.  
"Around $20 million was deposited by the central bank of Sri Lanka into our foreign-exchange reserve account last month, a week after the hacking in the fund from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York," a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) told the FE Monday.
"Both persons and institutions have already been identified. So the rest of the stolen money is expected to be recovered through complying with rules and regulations properly," the BB official explained.
Normally, the central bank does not have insurance coverage of its forex reserves deposited with different central banks across the world and invested in various securities and gold.
"We don't make any arrangement for insurance coverage on our forex reserves but the central banks concerned do it as per their rules and regulations," another BB official told the FE.
He also said the department concerned of the central bank has already lodged a complaint with the US Federal Reserve Bank over the missing funds.  
The central banker did not disclose any specific information in this regard as the issue is still under investigation.
The BB admitted the hacking incident for the first time Monday after more than a month of such cybercrime.
Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) of the central bank is now working with its counterpart-the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) of the Philippines - actively to recover the rest of the stolen money, according to a press statement issued by the BB on the day.
It also said the AMLC has already been able to receive account- freezing orders for respective bank accounts from their court after the filing of case in this connection.
Besides, a vastly experienced consultant of the World Bank and his forensic investigation team are now working with the central bank over this issue, it added.
Legal process of bringing back the stolen money will be started soon after completing investigation by the AMLC of the Philippines, the statement said.
And the BB will follow stolen asset-recovery process of the World Bank, if necessary.
The BFIU has already signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the AMLC for sharing information on money-laundering matter, another BB official told the FE.
The central banker also said Bangladesh, as a member of Egmont Group, a forum of the financial intelligence units (FIUs) of different countries, is now empowered to exchange information on money laundering and terror financing among its member-countries.
The Group now has 151 members across the world to promote and enhance international cooperation in anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing as well as to foster implementation of domestic programmes in this field.
Meanwhile, the BB had directed the commercial banks and financial institutions (FIs) to bolster their respective cyber-security systems amid recurrent incident of digital fraud and forgery.
The central bank issued a circular in this regard last Thursday, advising the managing directors and chief executive officers of all scheduled banks to take preventative measures to avert any kind of cybercrime.
The protection measures include establishing cyber-security governance with visibility at the board-of-directors level, comprehensive cyber- security-risk assessment, cyber-security-awareness programmes and training for all employees and developing an incident-response plan.
The central bank also advised credit-card services, ensuring payment card industry-data security standards (PCI-DSS) certification and offering chip-based cards for a higher level of security.
"We've advised all banks and financial institutions to review and update their cyber- security status to check any type of digital fraud and forgery," the BB official explained.
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