The central bank of the Philippines has levied a record $21.3 million dollar fine on Rizal Commercial Banking Corp (RCBC) for its part in the massive $81 billion Bangladesh cyber heist.
Hackers using fake Swift credentials used RCBC as the conduit to funnel the $81 billion stolen from the Bangladesh central bank in February.
Bangladesh bank officials have threatened legal action against RCBC for its role in the theft, saying that the Manilla-based bank made multiple systemic errors in allowing the stolen loot to be transferred to the country's casino industry. So far, just $18 million of the missing funds has been recovered and frozen in the Philippines.
In its enforcement action, the Monetary Board of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) says the P1.0 billion penalty "is the largest amount ever approved as part of its supervisory enforcement actions on a BSP supervised financial institution".
RCBC says it will pay the fine in installments over the course of the year.