Bangladesh Bank 'eyes NY Fed lawsuit' after cyber theft

Bangladesh Bank (BB) - the country's central bank- is weighing its legal options against the Federal Reserve Bank of New York after cyber hackers stole $81m (£57m) from its account.

BB has denied reports from Reuters that the bank hired US lawyers.

The bank told the BBC it is consulting with its 'panel lawyer' in Dhaka.

In February, hackers succeeded in instructing the New York Fed to transfer money from BB's account to accounts in The Philippines.

After the theft, the NY Fed said the breach did not occur in its system.

It also said that the payments were vetted through the "standard authentication protocols."

"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," the bank said in a statement.

'Legitimate claim'

Criminal charges were filed in Manila against two suspects, on Tuesday.

The cyber heist is one of the largest ever committed.

According to a report seen by Reuters, the BB is "preparing the ground to make a legitimate claim for the loss of funds against the [Federal Reserve Bank of New York] through a legal process".

The report from the BB alleges that 35 sets of payment transfer instructions were sent to the New York Fed, 30 of which were rejected by the US bank.

The incident has led to the resignation of Bangladesh's central bank governor Atiur Rahman.

Bangladeshi investigators are still combing through the central banks' systems for more evidence and US investigators have stepped in to help.