Friday, April 27, 2018

Holy See's Financial Information Authority issues report

At 11:00am today (5:00am EDT), at the Holy See Press Centre, there was a Press Conference held to present the Annual Report (for the sixth year of its existence, 2017) of the Financial Information Authority (AIF) concerning activities regarding financial information and supervisory activities in efforts to both be prudent and to prevent as well as to combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism.

Present at this morning's Press Conference were Doctor René Brülhart, President of the AIF and Doctor Tommaso Di Ruzza, Director of the AIF.


AIF Press Release – Annual Report 2017

Robust reporting system and effective regulatory framework

The Autorità di Informazione Finanziaria (AIF) of the Holy See and the Vatican City State has presented its Annual Report for 2017. The report reviews the activities and statistics of AIF for the year 2017.

2017 confirmed a robust reporting system and an effective application of the regulatory framework of the Holy See and the Vatican City State. Furthermore, AIF continued its pro-active approach to cooperate with and exchange information with its foreign counterparts in order to fight illicit financial activities.

2017 has been a year of consolidation and normalization of our institutional activities, said René Brülhart, President of AIF. Consolidation of the measures taken to establish an effective regulatory framework and its full and sustainable implementation. Normalization of the reporting system, which is considered to be robust.

The system has seen a progressive decline in the number of Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs). In 2017, 150 Suspicious Activity Reports were filed with AIF in comparison to the previous year with 207 SARs. Such a tendency is positive because in parallel the quality of the reports increased, showing a growing awareness and strengthening of the control functions of the reporting subjects, said Tommaso Di Ruzza, Director of AIF. In 2017, 8 reports were submitted to the Vatican Office of the Promoter of Justice for further investigation by the competent law enforcement authorities. Considering the uniqueness of the jurisdiction, international cooperation is a key element of the activity of AIF, reported Di Ruzza, indicating that In 2017, AIF signed 19 Memoranda of Understanding with its counterparts in foreign jurisdictions and exchanged information in 268 cases.

Furthermore, the regulatory framework has been further strengthened, in particular with the introduction of Regulation n. 2, which sets the rules in regard of the data and information accompanying transfers of funds and the technical requirement for credit transfers and direct debits in Euro.

About AIF

The Financial Information Authority is the competent authority of the Holy See and Vatican City State for supervision and financial intelligence for the prevention and countering of money laundering and financing of terrorism as well as prudential supervision.

Established by Pope Benedict XVI with the Apostolic Letter in form of Motu Proprio of 30 December 2010, AIF carries out its institutional activities in accordance with its new Statute introduced by Pope Francis with a Motu Proprio dated 15 November 2013 and Law No. XVIII of 8 October 2013.

AIF has signed MOUs with supervisory Authorities and FIUs Albania, Andorra, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Cape Verde, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Cyprus, Ecuador, Estonia, France, Germany, Ghana, Gibraltar, Guernsey, Hungary, India, Isle of Man, Italy, Jersey, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Monaco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, San Marino, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan (Republic of China), United Kingdom and the United States of America.

AIF has been a member of the Egmont Group since 2013.

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