Shortly after 7 p.m. on January 12, 2015, a message from a secure computer terminal at Banco del Austro (BDA) in Ecuador instructed San Francisco-based Wells Fargo to transfer money to bank accounts in Hong Kong.
Wells Fargo complied. Over 10 days, Wells approved a total of at least 12 transfers of BDA funds requested over the secure SWIFT system.
The SWIFT network - which allows banks to process billions of dollars in transfers each day - is considered the backbone of international banking. In all, Wells Fargo transferred $12 million of BDA's money to accounts across the globe.
Both banks now believe those funds were stolen by unidentified hackers, according to documents in a BDA lawsuit filed against Wells Fargo in New York this year.
BDA declined comment. Wells Fargo, which also initially declined comment on the lawsuit, said in a statement to Reuters on Friday that it "properly processed the wire instructions received via authenticated SWIFT messages" and was not responsible for BDA's losses.
BDA is suing Wells Fargo on the basis that the U.S. bank should have flagged the transactions as suspicious.
Wells Fargo has countered that security lapses in BDA
Wells Fargo complied. Over 10 days, Wells approved a total of at least 12 transfers of BDA funds requested over the secure SWIFT system.
The SWIFT network - which allows banks to process billions of dollars in transfers each day - is considered the backbone of international banking. In all, Wells Fargo transferred $12 million of BDA's money to accounts across the globe.
Both banks now believe those funds were stolen by unidentified hackers, according to documents in a BDA lawsuit filed against Wells Fargo in New York this year.
BDA declined comment. Wells Fargo, which also initially declined comment on the lawsuit, said in a statement to Reuters on Friday that it "properly processed the wire instructions received via authenticated SWIFT messages" and was not responsible for BDA's losses.
BDA is suing Wells Fargo on the basis that the U.S. bank should have flagged the transactions as suspicious.
Wells Fargo has countered that security lapses in BDA