The Bank of Thailand's policy review on Wednesday will keep its benchmark interest rate at 1.5 percent, where it has been for more than two years, a Reuters poll of economist predicted, as inflation in benign and the economy is recovering slowly.

All 19 economists surveyed forecast that the central bank's one-day repurchase rate will be kept at 1.50 percent when its monetary policy committee (MPC) meets.

The rate has been on hold since a cut in April 2015 and is just 25 basis points above the record low reached in 2009.

Policymakers have said monetary policy still supports the economic recovery and government spending remains a key driver of growth while high household debt is still a concern. Last week, large Thai banks unexpectedly cut loan rates for some customers, which should also ease pressure on the central bank to act.

Southeast Asia's second-largest economy grew at its fastest quarterly pace in four years in January-March, aided by stronger exports and consumption. But it still lags regional peers.

At its March 29 review, the MPC said sufficiently accommodative monetary policy remained necessary given that economic growth was still in the early stages and not yet broad-based.

Fifteen of 17 analysts in the poll forecast no rate change through 2017 while two others saw a hike in the second half to curb fund outflows in response to higher US interest rates.

Headline inflation was only 0.38 percent in April, below the BOT's 1-4 percent target range.

Russian cyber criminals used malware planted on Android mobile devices to steal from domestic bank customers and were planning to target European lenders before their arrest, investigators and sources with knowledge of the case told Reuters.

Their campaign raised a relatively small sum by cyber-crime standards - more than 50 million roubles ($892,000) - but they had also obtained more sophisticated malicious software for a modest monthly fee to go after the clients of banks in France and possibly a range of other western nations.

Russia's relationship to cyber crime is under intense scrutiny after U.S. intelligence officials alleged that Russian hackers had tried to help Republican Donald Trump win the U.S. presidency by hacking Democratic Party servers. The Kremlin has repeatedly denied the allegation.

The gang members tricked the Russian banks' customers into downloading malware via fake mobile banking applications, as well as via pornography and e-commerce programs, according to a report compiled by cyber security firm Group-IB which investigated the attack with the Russian Interior Ministry.

The criminals - 16 suspects were arrested by Russian law enforcement authorities in November last year - infected more than a million smartphones in Russia, on average compromising 3,500 devices a day, Group-IB said.

The hackers targeted customers of state lender Sberbank, and also stole money from accounts at Alfa Bank and online payments company Qiwi, exploiting weaknesses in the companies' SMS text message transfer services, said two people with direct knowledge of the case.

Although operating only in Russia before their arrest, they had developed plans to target large European banks including French lenders Credit Agricole, BNP Paribas and Societe General, Group-IB said. A BNP Paribas spokeswoman said the bank could not confirm this information, but added that it "has a significant set of measures in place aimed at fighting cyber attacks on a daily basis". Societe General and Credit Agricole declined comment.

The gang, which was called "Cron" after the malware it used, did not steal any funds from customers of the three French banks. However, it exploited the bank service in Russia that allows users to transfer small sums to other accounts by sending an SMS message.

Having infected the users' phones, the gang sent SMS messages from those devices instructing the banks to transfer money to the hackers' own accounts.

The findings illustrate the dangers of using SMS messages for mobile banking, a method favored in emerging countries with less advanced internet infrastructure, said Lukas Stefanko, a malware researcher at cyber security firm ESET in Slovakia.

"It's becoming popular among developing nations or in the countryside where access to conventional banking is difficult for people," he said. "For them it is quick, easy and they don't need to visit a bank... But security always has to outweigh consumer convenience."

Alistair Cross was flying high after showing in a pilot project how blockchain - the technology first developed for the crypto-currency bitcoin - could transform the old-fashioned and secretive world of commodity trading.

But since the pilot ran early this year, Cross and his rivals have hit some hard realities as they try to propel their industry into the digital age at last.

Word spread fast through the business when Mercuria, the Swiss-based commodities house where Cross is head of operations, successfully tested an oil trade. "The number of phone calls I've had from people in the last month once they heard we had done this has been incredible," he told Reuters.

Cross and many others in the sector are excited about the possibility of saving billions of dollars a year in commodities trading by scrapping millions of paper documents and moving to a digital equivalent with blockchain.

But adopting some form of blockchain, which in the case of bitcoin allows for transactions through a peer-to-peer computer network, with no need for middlemen, wouldn't be universally welcomed. Many in the conservative commodity business shrink from the thought of losing discretion in their dealings, as well as jobs and perhaps even their business if the technology succeeds disrupting the status quo.

After a series of upbeat announcements from Mercuria and others about successful pilots and "proofs of concept", Cross and rivals have found that translating enthusiasm into a broad-based roll-out of the technology is proving difficult.

Even if problems in the blockchain technology are ironed out, the sector has to hammer out common legal standards, ensure there are links between different dealing platforms and persuade scattered elements of the supply chain - from commodity producers and brokers to traders and consumers - to co-operate.

For Cross, the fear is that a profusion of systems will emerge. "There's got to be consolidation in all this because if everyone comes up with their own offering it will be too burdensome, it will kill itself," he said.

Long after stock, currency and bond trading moved to electronic systems, the business of buying and selling commodities is largely stuck in an era of paper and fax machines.

"When you start to think about some of the (possible) efficiencies in that environment, it's astronomical," said Guy Halford-Thompson, CEO of BTL Group, a technology firm that is running a blockchain pilot with European energy companies.

Whether it is trading oil, copper or wheat, participants currently grapple with a mountain of documents including letters of credit, bills of lading and inventory receipts.

For instance, more than 4.5 million letters of credit were issued in 2015, accounting for over $2 trillion of global trade, according to HSBC. Blockchain has the potential to eliminate all this kind of paper and much more.

Shaving only part of the costs from such a huge volume of trade could amount to billions of dollars in gains for firms across the supply chain. Mercuria has estimated that costs in terms of payments could slide by 30 percent by using the technology.

Eager to turn the concept into reality, HSBC completed a test run last year along with Bank of America Merrill Lynch and the R3 technology group, proving that a letter of credit could be replicated on a distributed ledger.

The test, while successful, also revealed the tough road ahead. "We learned that it could be done, but there were quite a few restrictions with the technology itself... particularly around the scalability and security," said Vivek Ramachandran, global head of product for HSBC's trade finance business.

HSBC is now working with another broader group of banks and technology firms to move the project forward.

Ramachandran believes the technology will eventually transform the sector, but it will be tough convincing a wide range of market participants to set aside rivalries and move onto a blockchain platform. Some in a fiercely competitive commodities sector are reluctant to put their data on a common platform.

"If you're a proprietary trader with your specific strategies that make you a lot of money, you're not in the business of sharing that with anybody," said Talib Dhanji, EY's Commodities Markets Leader.

Blockchain technology allows for public, private and mixed platforms, but to reap the benefits, the whole supply chain including producers, shippers, warehouse operators and customs authorities must use it.

Technology giant IBM recognises the difficulty of moving beyond a pilot of trading crude oil that it has tested with French bank Natixis and trading house Trafigura. "Clearly it needs a number of banks and a number of buyers and sellers, enough to get a critical mass to make a business network valid," said Keith Bear, IBM's vice president of financial markets.

Even among commodity and technology partners working on blockchain projects, there is reluctance to share information.

"You don't want to give away your intellectual property or your market knowledge, access to clients, to fintech companies for the privilege of paying for that technology for the rest of your life," said Kris Van Broekhoven, global head of commodity trade finance for Citibank. "So it's not an easy discussion."

In some cases, people may be wary of joining an initiative that may render their roles redundant. Banks, brokers and energy utilities could all face uncertain futures in a world where the buyer and seller can do business directly in a digital system.

"Once you have the transparency, the visibility, the digital trust...it means a challenge to the value that they add to that process," said Richard Payne, managing director of commodities trading and risk management at Accenture Resources.

The Asian Development Bank has awarded three of its best performing project teams in Bangladesh as part of its efforts to promote efficient project implementation.

Cai Li, deputy country director of the ADB resident mission in Bangladesh, presented the awards for the year 2016 to the winning teams at a ceremony in Dhaka on Sunday, according to a statement.

Senior government officials, project directors of ADB-assisted projects, members of the winning project teams, and ADB staff members attended the ceremony.

The winning project teams are: Participatory small scale water resources sector project, executed by the Local Government Engineering Department; SASEC railway connectivity: Akhaura-Laksam double track project, executed by Bangladesh Railway; and, Power system efficiency improvement project, part A -- construction of Ashuganj 450 megawatt power plant, executed by Ashuganj Power Station Company Ltd. 

“The project teams were selected for results delivery, efficiency, effective project implementation, efforts to empower women, transparency, and other criteria,” said Cai Li.

Participatory small-scale water resources sector project (with $55 million ADB financing) is developing community-based infrastructure with participation of stakeholders, including farmers, fishermen, landless people and women.

The project, including two of its forerunners, helped raise cropping intensity from 176 percent to 237 percent, saved one crop from regular flooding, added over 390,000 tonnes of crops, and created employment of 6.27 million person days per annum.

The SASEC railway connectivity: Akhaura-Laksam double track project (with $505 million ADB financing) is helping to upgrade the 72-kilometre Akhaura-Laksam section of the Dhaka-Chittagong railway corridor to a double track dual-gauge railway line, along with modern signalling equipment.

This project will help reduce transport costs, improve logistics of strategic corridors, such as Dhaka-Chittagong link, for domestic and sub-regional trade, and enhance inclusiveness of railway services by introducing infrastructure.

The power system efficiency improvement project (with $500 million ADB financing) is helping to construct a 450MW combined cycle modern power plant in Ashuganj, which will produce 80 percent more power by using the same amount of energy as before, thus contributing to environmental sustainability.

The best project team recognition programme was initiated in 2001, and has been a regular annual exercise by the ADB to promote development effectiveness of ADB-assisted projects in Bangladesh.

As of April 30, the ADB's ongoing lending to Bangladesh stood at $7.6 billion for 54 projects, while the ongoing technical assistance amounted to $28.6 million for 32 projects. The lender approved more than $1 billion for Bangladesh in 2016.

City Bank signed a deal with Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD) to strengthen collaboration for fostering private sector development in Bangladesh.

The joint collaboration will encompass the areas of finance, public private partnership transactions, lines of finance and any other areas of mutual interest, the bank said in a press release yesterday.

The signing ceremony took place at the 42nd annual meeting of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) Group at Hilton Hotel in Saudi Arabia on May 18. The ICD, a multilateral development financial institution, is part of the IDB.

Khaled Al Aboodi, CEO of ICD, and Sheikh Mohammed Maroof, deputy managing director of City Bank, signed the deal. “City Bank is one of our most valued partners and signing of this MOU will take our relationship to a new level which will benefit the people of Bangladesh the most,” Aboodi said at the ceremony.

“City Bank has achieved significant growth over the years by leveraging strong relationships with partners and providing innovative solutions to meet growing the financial needs,” Maroof said.

“I'm sure this partnership with ICD will improve the bank's performance capacities and better serve our customers' banking needs.”