NY Fed first rejected cyber-heist transfers, then moved US$81m

Dhaka, Bangladesh

HOURS before the Federal Reserve Bank of New York approved four fraudulent requests to send US$81 million from a Bangladesh Bank account to cyber thieves, the Fed branch blocked those same requests because they lacked information required to transfer money, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter.

On the day of the theft in February, the New York Fed initially rejected 35 requests to transfer funds to various overseas accounts, a New York Fed official and a senior Bangladesh Bank official told Reuters. The Fed's decision to later fulfil a handful of resubmitted requests raises questions about whether it missed red flags.

The New York arm of the US central bank initially denied the transfer requests because they lacked proper formatting for the Swift messaging system, the network banks use for international financia…