After years of questionable scandals, Wall Street is turning things around for the Vatican Bank
The Vatican Bank is having a splendid year since bringing in Wall Street to fix their questionable finances and expenditures. The bank is seeing its most profitable year in a long time. All was not pure and holy last year when the Vatican was dealt with a multitude of problems including a criminal investigation, high-level resignations and international accusations that it was not taking aggressive procedures to deter money laundering including that which funded terrorists.
The Vatican Bank was put in place to serve thousands of Catholic charities, religious orders and dioceses around the world. In recent years, the bank has come under fire as its former General Director, Paolo Cipriani and his Deputy, Massimo Tulli and Priest/Accountant Nunzio Scarano faced a very public trial for money laundering over 26 million dollars. The numerous oversights, scandals and profiteering by the Vatican bank caused the Pope to seek help from Wall Street in regards to their finances. Since then the Wall Street Journal reports that trading income increased while operating expenses declined.
Stronger income from trading securities including bonds and a fall in operating expenses drove a sharp rise in profits last year. Net profits hit €69.3 million ($76.1 million) in 2014, up from €2.9 million ($3.1 million) a year earlier, according to the bank’s annual report released Monday. The bank said the improvement was “essentially the result of financial market developments.” In addition the Vatican has been keeping a close eye and reviewing all accountants hired to make sure the accountants are aligned with the missions of the Vatican. They have also ended relationships with clients that they deemed to not have an acceptable profile.
-Abesi Manyando(@abesipr)
