VATICAN CITY
Telegraph
By Nick Squires, Rome 25 May 2015
Once tainted by scandal and intrigue, the Vatican bank has managed to increase its profits by more than 20 times since embarking on a comprehensive drive for transparency and accountability ordered by Pope Francis.
The bank announced on Monday that it earned €69.3 million (£49 million) in 2014 – up from €2.9 million the previous year.
Profits plummeted in 2013 as a result of a dramatic dip in the value of the bank’s gold reserves, two substantial write-offs and the cost of employing a team of forensic accountants to review the murkiest corners of its finances.
The outside consultants were brought in to bring the bank, officially known as the Institute for Religious Works, into compliance with tough anti-money laundering regulations.
“The gold price did not move in our favour (in 2013) and there were the extraordinary effects of two substantial write-offs, one on an investment equity fund made by the previous management of the bank and the other on a bond issue for a media company,” Max Hohenberg, a bank spokesman, told The Telegraph.
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