VATICAN CITY
ABC News
By NICOLE WINFIELD, ASSOCIATED PRESS
VATICAN CITY — May 12, 2016
The head of the Vatican’s scandal-marred bank declared Thursday it’s now “impossible to launder money” there after a years-long cleanup that saw norms imposed to fight money laundering and tax evasion.
Jean-Baptiste Douville de Franssu made the claim as the bank reported net profit of 16.1 million euros ($18.3 million) last year, down from 69.3 million euros in 2014. The bank attributed the decrease to lower interest rates and market uncertainties and provisions to fix a foreign tax issue.
In an interview with Vatican media, de Franssu acknowledged that in the past the IOR had been subject to abuse “because you cannot serve two masters, and money is tempting.”
But now that new norms are in place, he said: “It is impossible to launder money at IOR.”
The bank has some 14,801 customers. About half are religious orders which use its investment services and to transfer money to missions around the world. Other customers include Vatican offices and employees. Total client assets under management at the end of 2015 were 5.8 billion euros ($6.6 billion).
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