VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service – Bollettino
Vatican City, 12 May 2016 – The Institute for the Works of Religion (IOR) today published its 2015 Annual Report. “Building on the Holy Father’s reaffirmation of the importance of the IOR’s mission, the Institute has continued to serve with prudence and provide specialised financial services to the Catholic Church worldwide and the Vatican City State”, states a press release from the Institute. IOR has thus continued in 2015 to assist the Holy Father in His mission as universal Pastor. While visiting the IOR on November 24, 2015 the Holy Father insisted on the need to adhere to ‘Ethical principles that are non-negotiable for the Church, the Holy See and the Pope’. His Holiness went on to state that ‘IOR needs to base its operations on principles that are compatible with standards of morality, consistent efficiency and practices that respect the specificity of IOR’s nature and the example it is required to set through its activities’, so as to ‘combine, harmoniously, operational effectiveness and the essential pastoral nature of all actions’.
In the section relating to the key changes to the IOR’s operating framework, the note recalls that over the last few years Vatican City State has taken major steps in requiring all financial institutions to comply with a new legal and regulatory framework (Law XVIII). In 2015, the supervisory body AIF issued a prudential regulation, Regolamento N. 1 and the Institute has diligently worked towards adherence to the new rules issued.
Between June 2013 and December of 2015, 4935 accounts were closed, effectively terminating the thorough remediation process of past accounts. Procedures in place are diligently applied to all new customer and related activities.
With regard to anti money laundering (AML) measures and the need to “Know Your Customer” (KYC), the same year international tax agreements were signed by the Holy See, leading to enhanced transparency. Key steps were also taken in 2015 to strengthen IOR governance. It includes the creation of an Audit and Risk committee as well as an HR and Remuneration committee to help the Board. In accordance to the Statutes governing the Institute, a new director general was appointed, Gian Franco Mammì supported by Giulio Mattietti as adjunct to the director general, as well as 2 new members of the Board of Auditors (Collegio dei Revisori), Giovanni Barbara and Luca Del Pico.
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