Vatican Financial Information
Authority records increased collaboration in annual report
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| The Vatican's Financial Information Authority (AIF) releases its annual report (Vatican Media) |
The Vatican’s Financial Information Authority (AIF) releases
its annual report and announces a change of its name to the Supervisory and
Financial Information Authority (SFIA).
By Vatican News
The Vatican’s Financial Information Authority (AIF), has
released its latest annual report, highlighting the activities of the
institution, and the results obtained in the past year.
Presenting the report, AIF President Carmelo Barbagallo said
that since the establishment of the AIF in 2010, it has grown to gain a solid
reputation as “an active player in the fight against money laundering and the
financing of terrorism.”
He pointed out that the aim of the institution’s activities
in these past months includes: ensuring operations in the realm of
international cooperation, consolidating collaboration with other institutions
of the Holy See and the Vatican City State, intensifying prudential
supervision, reinforcing the Authority’s governance and staff, and reorganizing
the Authority.
Cooperation with local and domestic authorities
The annual report shows that the AIF succeeded getting
reinserted back into the Egmont Group (the forum that gathers the Financial
Information Units around the world) after a two-month suspension in November
2019. Crucial to this was a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by the AIF
and the Promoter of Justice.
At the domestic level, the Authority also signed four
Memoranda of Understanding with different domestic authorities between February
and June of this year. That list names the Secretariat of State, the
Secretariat for the Economy, the Promoter of Justice, the Gendarmerie and the
General Auditor.
Prudential supervision
Barbagallo said that the supervision of entities that carry
out a financial activity on a professional basis was based on AIF’s regulations
and operational practices.
The AIF report indicated that the institution conducted
inspections of the Institute for Works of Religion (IOR) in August 2019 and May
2020. He also added that progress had been made on the personnel front as the
number of staff in the AIF had seen an increase.
Change of name
The AIF President announced that the name of the Authority
would change to the Supervisory and Financial Information Authority (SFIA).
This name, Barbagallo said, “highlights the Authority’s dual nature as
intelligence unity and supervisory (and regulatory) authority.”
Barbagallo also hopes to issue a new Statute and the first
internal regulation of the Authority to set out “detailed procedures in the
furtherance of a healthy and transparent administration.”
Prevention of financial fraud
The report indicates a considerable decrease in the flow of
cross-border money. In 2019 for example, 1,121 incoming and outgoing
declarations were recorded, totaling just over 21 million Euros, compared with
1,239 declarations in 2018 which amounted to over 26 million Euros.
The Holy See is, therefore "strongly committed to
ensuring international cooperation and the exchange of information for the
prevention of tax evasion and the promotion of the fulfillment of fiscal
requirements by foreign citizens and legal entities having an account at the
IOR."
The AIF
The Financial Information Authority is the institution of
the Holy See and the Vatican City State in charge of supervision and financial
intelligence for the prevention and countering of the money laundering and
financing of terrorism, as well as prudential supervision.
It was established on 30 December 2010 by Pope Benedict XVI.
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