Union Bank of India reports cyber breach on offshore account

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Union Bank of India Ltd said on Friday one of the bank's offshore accounts was breached in a cyber attack, but the money trail was traced and the movement of funds was blocked.

"There is no loss caused to the bank," the state-run bank said in a statement, adding it had informed authorities about the breach.

Separately, Arun Tiwari, the bank's chairman, told Reuters that the breach of the "nostro" account - which a bank maintains with an overseas bank in foreign currency - took place in New York. A source familiar with the matter originally had said the breach occurred in Hong Kong.

Tiwari declined to say how much money was transferred in the breach, but said the bank had already recovered 70 percent of the amount and the remainder was due to come back in the next few days.

Following a recent cyber attack on a Bangladesh central bank's account at the New York Federal Reserve, the Reserve Bank of India last month asked Indian banks to immediately put in place a cyber security policy.

Some $81 million was stolen from the Bangladesh central bank account with the New York Fed in one of the biggest-ever cyber heists.

"A cyber security forensic audit has commenced to identify, plug any gaps, and strengthen the system," Union Bank said in a statement to Indian stock exchanges.

(Reporting by Suvashree Dey Choudhury; Editing by Larry King)