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.
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ORIGINAL SOURCE: Reuters