The FBI has arrested a 21-year-old Bangladeshi man on charges he attempted to blow up the New York Federal Reserve Bank in America, with what he believed was a 1,000 pound (453 kg) bomb.

The plot was thwarted by an undercover sting operation, federal authorities said.

In a statement, the US Department of Justice said Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis faces charges of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction and attempting to provide material support to al-Qaeda.

However, the FBI said the public was not in danger because the explosives were provided to Nafis by an undercover agent and were never in a working condition.

Police Commissioner Ray Kelly told the media Nafis went to the United States with the intent to commit a terrorist attack.

"He came in January of this year, he gets a student visa under the pretext of being a student at a college in Missouri and he comes here with, again, the vowed purpose of committing some sort of jihad here in the United States," Kelly said.

"He goes to the New York Stock Exchange, he sees that there is significant security there, and he shifts his target to the Federal Reserve Bank."

After his arrest Nafis appeared at a Brooklyn federal court.

If convicted, he faces life in prison.