VATICAN CITY
Philadelphia Inquirer
[MONEYVAL’s first evaluation report on the Holy See – Council of Europe]
The Associated Press
VATICAN CITY – The Vatican has passed a key European financial transparency test, but received poor grades for the effectiveness of its new financial watchdog agency and the ability of its bank to track suspicious transactions.
The Council of Europe report released Wednesday marked a milestone in the Holy See’s efforts to shed its reputation as a shady tax haven long mired in secrecy and scandal.
The report showed the Vatican had received compliant or largely compliant grades on nine of the 16 “key and core” internationally recognized recommendations to fight money laundering and terrorist financing.
But seven other areas were found lacking, particularly concerning the Vatican’s financial oversight agency, created amid much fanfare in 2010 to try to respond to international demands for greater financial transparency.
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