Bank Negara Malaysia is currently conducting a comprehensive investigation into the system disruption that occurred at Bank Pertanian Malaysia Berhad (Agrobank).
The issue is believed to involve a huge loss of RM165.75 million linked to a coordinated attempt to embezzle funds using hundreds of bank accounts.
A total of 718 accounts from 19 different financial institutions including commercial banks, Islamic banks, digital banks, and e-wallet platforms were reported to be involved in the fraud scheme.
Bank Negara stated that the institutions involved are working closely with the central bank, law enforcement agencies, and experts to investigate the incident, identify the true cause, and work to recover the lost funds.
It is understood that Agrobank operates an internal payment system that functions as a link to the real-time retail payment platform (RRP) operated by Payments Network Malaysia Sdn Bhd (PayNet).
This system is responsible for sending payment instructions, whether credit or debit, to PayNet for processing and distribution to the relevant banks.
PayNet is jointly owned by Bank Negara, which holds a 35.5% stake, while the rest is owned by a consortium of 11 major Malaysian financial institutions.
Bank Negara stressed that this incident was isolated and did not affect the entire national financial system. Banking infrastructure and major payment systems have reportedly continued to operate as normal since the incident was detected.
The central bank will continue to monitor corrective actions taken to ensure that the integrity of the financial system is always maintained and security measures are strengthened.
Although there are various speculations about the cause of the incident, including possible hacking, internal fraud, or management failure by a third-party service provider.
However, the actual cause of the incident is still in the process of being confirmed through an ongoing in-depth investigation.
