ROME: Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. said Thursday it closed its remittance operations in Italy, but the shutdown is not connected to the issue of money laundering. RCBC said it stopped the Italian remittance operations because it could not meet on time the computer systems capabilities required by Banca D’Italia, the central bank of Italy.
RCBC owns two branches in Italy—one in Rome and another in Florence. RCBC global transaction banking group head Manny Narciso said the closure of its operations in Italy was “not in any way related to the current issue on money laundering.”
RCBC is being probed by the Senate because of alleged involvement in the illegal transfer of $81-million funds believed stolen by cyber thieves from the Bangladesh Bank.
The illegal funds entered the country’s financial system in February through an RCBC branch on Jupiter Street in Makati City. RCBC said it had taken immediate steps to improve operational processes. The bank said it reduced its straight through processing threshold amount for both inward and outward remittances.
