A Vatican official called for greater scrutiny of Vatican finances after roughly 15 years of reforms.
Monsignor Anthony Ekpo, assessor for general affairs of the Secretariat of State and president of the Financial Security Committee, spoke at a conference at Rome’s Luiss University on Sept. 29. According to Vatican News, the event marked 15 years since Pope Benedict XVI introduced anti-money-laundering legislation at the Vatican in late 2010.
Ekpo, in his remarks, stressed that ongoing financial reform at the Vatican is necessary to confront new technologies used in financial crime that may threaten it.
“The next 15 years will bring risks that would have been difficult to imagine in 2010: increasingly complex financial technologies, instantaneous cross-border transactions, activities involving virtual assets, artificial intelligence, and new forms of financial crime,” Ekpo said.
In 2010, Italian authorities seized 23 million euros from accounts linked to the Vatican bank during an anti-money-laundering investigation and later returned the funds. In response, Pope Benedict established the Supervisory and Financial Information Authority (ASIF), a Vatican institution to prevent money laundering.
Ekpo highlighted the context in which Benedict implemented anti-money-laundering legislation and noted the progress made by Popes Francis and Leo XIV, who approved a new ASIF statute in June.
“Today, 15 years on, we can recognize significant progress,” Ekpo said.
“A culture of financial integrity has gradually developed through the patient work of legislators, regulatory and supervisory authorities, financial intelligence experts, law enforcement agencies, judges, and institutions.”