Central Bank of India has reported that ₹13.97 crore was diverted from its Reserve Bank of India settlement account through 187 unauthorised transactions. Investigators are examining a suspected breach involving the banking messaging infrastructure.
Central Bank of India has approached the police after detecting 187 unauthorised transfers totalling ₹13.97 crore from its settlement account maintained with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). According to the bank’s complaint, the transactions occurred between October 15 and 17 and involved the alleged compromise of a central banking communication server.
The case was registered at Mumbai’s Nodal Cyber Police Station following a complaint by the bank’s general manager for treasury. The first information report (FIR) states that the money was transferred to 36 bank accounts through transactions that the lender could not identify in its internal records.
The complaint records six transfers on October 15, followed by 88 on October 16 and another 93 on October 17. The bank alleges that unidentified individuals gained unauthorised access to the central Structured Financial Messaging System (SFMS) server operated by Indian Financial Technology and Allied Services (Iftas), an RBI-owned subsidiary, through the SFMS server connected to the bank’s core banking system.
Suspected breach of banking communication systems
SFMS is used by banks to exchange financial messages associated with payment systems, including the RBI’s Real-Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) and National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) networks. Its role in transmitting payment instructions makes the alleged incident a significant concern for banking cybersecurity.
According to the FIR, the bank’s internal investigation failed to locate any of the 187 transactions in its branches, internet banking, mobile banking or other payment channels. The transfers were also absent from its core banking platform, RTGS settlement account records and SFMS server records.
Investigators reportedly found partial traces relating to 10 beneficiary accounts in SFMS database logs. However, the corresponding transaction identification numbers were missing from the bank’s records. The complaint further states that the accounts listed as originating the payments did not belong to Central Bank of India.
Under the normal RTGS process, a bank records a customer’s payment instruction in its core banking system and debits the customer’s account. The funds are then routed through the bank’s RTGS settlement account, with payment messages exchanged through SFMS and the relevant settlement entries processed through the RBI.
The bank suspects that this process was bypassed through unauthorised access, allowing funds to be diverted from its RBI settlement account.
Police probe and cybersecurity notifications
According to reports, a police officer familiar with the case said investigators had limited information about the transaction trail, making it difficult to establish precisely how the funds were siphoned off. The police have registered a case involving alleged cheating and personation against unidentified individuals.
Central Bank of India said it promptly alerted the RBI, Iftas, the Daksh portal, the National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre (NCIIPC) and the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In).
The investigation will seek to establish how the unauthorised transfers were initiated, identify those responsible and determine whether weaknesses in banking communication systems were exploited. The incident also underscores the importance of robust access controls, transaction authentication and real-time monitoring across critical financial infrastructure.
