The Schuylkill County Municipal Authority said Tuesday it will move a bank account that was hacked, but not because of the crime.
"It was a matter of convenience with the bank we do our daily deposits with. A majority of our daily work is there," said Patrick Caulfield, the authority's executive director.
The account with Sovereign Bank, Pottsville, held nearly a quarter-million dollars. The authority had used it to make loan payments to the Pennsylvania Infrastructure and Investment Authority. It will be moved to M&T Bank in the city. No money was stolen in the hacking incident and customer's funds were never in jeopardy, according to Caulfield.
"This wasn't anyone saying 'Sovereign screwed up. Sovereign made a mistake. We want to stick a finger in Sovereign's eye,' " Sudhir Patel, an attorney from Pottsville who serves as the authority's solicitor, said Tuesday.
"We have other accounts at M&T. We figured we might as well put it in M&T. The authority has done business with different banks in the county," Patel said.
"And still continues to do so," Caulfield said.
At the authority's March meeting, Mark T. Catranis, the authority's controller, reported an international computer hacker had attempted to steal funds from the authority's account at Sovereign Bank. Using numbers for the account, the hacker attempted to remove funds from it with a scheme involving checks.
However, Catranis said, the account wasn't a checking account. It was a transfer account used to pay loans owed to the Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority.
No funds were stolen from the account, Caulfield said again Tuesday.
When asked on March 19 how much money on average was in that account, Caulfield said The Republican-Herald had to file a Right-To-Know request form.
In response to the request, Caulfield released two bank account statements. According to one, the balance of the account on Dec. 26, 2012, was $230,763.17. According to the other, the balance of the account on Jan. 26 was $230,765.25.
"When this issue arose with the hacking, obviously, it was a major concern. The first thing the authority did was make sure no SCMA money was inappropriately withdrawn, and it was not. The next step became, at last month's meeting, we needed to close that account," Patel said.
"Because, obviously, the routing number was out there. We had to close the account," Caulfield said.
The account at Sovereign was closed April 1, after the monthly payment to PennVEST was made, Caulfield said.
"Then it was a matter of, 'Do we reopen a new account at Sovereign?' which certainly could have been done. But through discussion, a decision was made. We have other accounts at M&T. We might as well put it at M&T," Patel said.
"It was just a matter of convenience. We put it in the bank we do our daily deposits with," Caulfield said, referring to M&T.
From time to time, the authority would do money transfers from accounts at M&T to the account at Sovereign Bank, Caulfield said.
"It's easier to move money from an M&T account to an M&T account, than it is to do an intra-bank transfer," Patel said.
Caulfield would not say how many banks the authority does business with.
"There are several others that we work with. I don't have the exact number," Patel said.
On March 20, Bryan Hurst, public relations specialist at Sovereign/Santander Bank, Boston, Mass., said the bank cannot comment on individual customers or their accounts. Hurst could not be reached for comment Tuesday.