Bangladesh panel finds possible insider role in central bank cyber theft

Commuters pass by the front of the Bangladesh central bank building in Dhaka March 8, 2016. REUTERS/Ashikur Rahman/File Photo - RTSFXX1

DHAKA (Reuters) - Officials of Bangladesh Bank may have been involved in a brazen theft of $81 million from its account with the New York Federal Reserve Bank in February, the head of a government-appointed panel investigating the cyber heist told reporters on Monday.

Hackers broke into the computer systems of the Bangladesh central bank and issued instructions through the SWIFT network to transfer $951 million of its deposits held at the New York Federal Reserve Bank to accounts in the Philippines and Sri Lanka.