De Lima: Bank officials liable

The cross-border transfer of $81 million hacked from an account of the Bank of Bangladesh with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York is alarming for the Philippines because it shows a local bank’s non-compliance with regulatory policies, former Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said.

“Despite provisions of the AMLA [the Philippines’ Anti-Money Laundering Law] and regulations of the AMLC [Anti-Money Laundering Council] being already in place, such a huge amount still found its way to what appears to be fictitious accounts opened at the Jupiter Branch of the RCBC without raising any alarm bells from RCBC authorities. This indicates a breakdown in the bank’s compliance with BSP and AMLC regulatory policies,” de Lima said, referring to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (Central Bank).