VATICAN CITY
The New York Times
By ELISABETTA POVOLEDO
Published: July 18, 2012
VATICAN CITY — The Vatican is mostly compliant with international transparency and anti-money-laundering standards, but its bank still lags in monitoring suspicious activities or carrying out sufficient due diligence, according to a report issued Wednesday backed by the Council of Europe.
Msgr. Ettore Balestrero, a Vatican official, on Wednesday put a positive spin on a report that was critical of the Vatican’s bank.
The 241-page report by Moneyval, a committee of financial experts that evaluates measures to combat money-laundering and terrorist financing, praised the Holy See for having come “a long way in a very short period of time” but also noted that “further important issues still need addressing in order to demonstrate that fully effective regime has been instituted in practice.”
The Vatican, whose secretive bank has been embroiled in scandals in the past, acknowledged on Wednesday that the reform process would take time but pledged to pursue change in its efforts to present a more modern — and open — image of its guarded financial institutions.
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