Federal Reserve denies Bangladesh Bank’s US account hacked, money stolen

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York has denied that its payments systems were breached after Bangladesh's central bank said earlier on Monday that its US account had been hacked and money stolen from it.

"To date, there is no evidence of any attempt to penetrate Federal Reserve systems in connection with the payments in question, and there is no evidence that any Fed systems were compromised," said New York Fed spokeswoman Andrea Priest in response to queries about the claim.

Bangladesh Bank in a statement released on Monday said its Financial Intelligence Unit is working with the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) of the Philippines to recover the rest of the funds.

But the central bank did not say how much money has been recovered.

According to media reports, AMLC is investigating a money laundering case involving $100 million reportedly stolen by hackers mostly from the accounts of a Bangladeshi bank.

Chinese hackers stole money from the Bangladesh Bank account with the Federal Reserve in New York, the reports said.

Of the funds, $75 million was transferred to a bank in the Philippines and the rest to a Sri Lankan bank, the reporters suggested.

Two Bangladesh Bank officials have already visited the Phillipines and held meetings with officials of the country’s central bank –the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) – for the recovery of the money.

Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith said he was unaware of the central bank losing money to hackers.

Some 250 central banks, governments, and other institutions have foreign accounts at the New York Fed, which is near the centre of the global financial system.

The accounts hold mostly US Treasuries and agency debt, and requests for funds arrive and are authenticated by a so-called SWIFT network that connects banks.

Fed computers have been hacked in the past including charges in 2014 against a British citizen for breaching central bank servers and publicly posting information from internal users.