Vatican bank touts transparency amid scandals

As European financial regulators meet in Strasbourg, France, the Vatican is bracing for a decision that could determine the success of its years-long drive to adopt international financial transparency standards — and along the way help restore the reputation of the scandal-plagued institution.

On Wednesday (July 4), Moneyval, a European watchdog, will discuss a report assessing the Holy See’s progress in preventing money laundering and terrorism financing, a crucial step toward international recognition as a financially responsible country.

Setting up a full-fledged regulation system is a challenge, and it is especially difficult for the world’s smallest state. But it is also a critical step for an institution that has called for a radical reform of the global financial system and prides itself on bringing an ethical voice to today’s financial world.

Paolo Cipriani, who since 2007 has been director general of the Vatican Bank — formally known as the Institute for the Works of Religion (IOR) — knows what is at stake in the Moneyval report.

“We want to radically change the face of IOR,” he told journalists during a June 28 media tour of the bank, a first for an institution based behind the high walls of Vatican City. “We want to lift the’veil of secrecy’ hanging around the institute and show that our effort for transparency is real.” [more]

SOURCE

Washington Post