The Supervisory and Financial Information Authority ( it, Autorità di Vigilanza e Informazione Finanziaria, or ASIF), formerly known as the Financial Intelligence Authority ( it, Autorità di Informazione Finanziaria, or AIF) is an institution connected to the

Holy See The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of R ...

and a

canonical The adjective canonical is applied in many contexts to mean "according to the canon" the standard, rule or primary source that is accepted as authoritative for the body of knowledge or literature in that context. In mathematics, "canonical examp ...

and Vatican civil juridic person established by

Pope Benedict XVI Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the soverei ...

on 30 December 2010. The first lay person to serve as president of the AIF was René Brülhart.

Overview and history

The authority, according to the new Statute approved by Pope Francis on 15 November 2013, is the competent authority of the Holy See and the Vatican City State in charge for financial intelligence and supervision, including anti money laundering and combating financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) and prudential supervision of the entities carrying out financial activities on a professional basis, as established by articles 2 and 52 of the Vatican Law no. XVIII of 8 October 2013. On 5 June 2014,

Pope Francis Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013. ...

appointed Tommaso Di Ruzza, legal counselor of the Holy See and senior officer in charge of the legal and international matters for the authority since the beginning of its functions in 2011, as the authority's interim Vice Director and also completely replaced the members of the authority's Board. As of 5 June 2014, the Board members are: Dr. Bianca Maria Farina, managing director of the Italian insurance company Poste Vita; Dr. Marc Odendall, a financial consultant for the philanthropic sector in Switzerland; Joseph Yuvaraj Pillay, Chairman of the Board of Consultors to the President of the Republic of

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

; and Dr.

Juan Zarate Juan Carlos Zarate is an American attorney and security advisor who served as the deputy national security advisor for combating terrorism during the George W. Bush administration. He is the chairman and co-founder of the Financial Integrity Netw ...

, senior adviser at the

Center for Strategic and International Studies The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) is an American think tank based in Washington, D.C. CSIS was founded as the Center for Strategic and International Studies of Georgetown University in 1962. The center conducts polic ...

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

In 2013 the AIF became a full member of Egmont Group, an international network of

Financial Intelligence Unit Financial intelligence (FININT) is the gathering of information about the financial affairs of entities of interest, to understand their nature and capabilities, and predict their intentions. Generally the term applies in the context of law enfo ...

s. In 2019, AIF was excluded from Egmont Group, for failure to guarantee data security, however, it was readmitted shortly afterwards after those concerns have been addressed in an agreement of the AIF and Vatican City's Promoter of Justice. The AIF has its seat in ''Palazzo San Carlo'', Vatican City, close to

Domus Sanctae Marthae The Domus Sanctae Marthae (Latin for Saint Martha's House; it, Casa Santa Marta) is a building adjacent to St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City. Completed in 1996, during the pontificate of Pope John Paul II, it is named after Martha of Bethan ...

. On 5 December 2020, Pope Francis approved an overhaul to the agency which resulted in things such as renaming. The new statutes also redefined the roles of the agency's president and directorate, as well as establishing a new Regulation and Legal Affairs Unit within the organization. This new agency within the ASIF handles all legal issues, including regulation. A Supervision Unit and a Financial Intelligence Unit were created within the organization as well.

Presidents of the Board

*Cardinal

Attilio Nicora Attilio Nicora (16 March 1937 – 22 April 2017) was an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church who held senior positions in the administration of the Roman Curia as president of the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See from 2002 ...

(2011–2014) *Bishop

Giorgio Corbellini Giorgio Corbellini (20 April 1947 – 13 November 2019) was an Italian Roman Catholic prelate, who was the president of the Labour Office of the Apostolic See since his appointment by Pope Benedict XVI on 3 July 2009 until his death. In this po ...

(2014 ''ad interim'') * René Brülhart (2014–2019) * Carmelo Barbagallo (since 2019)

Directors

*Francesco De Pasquale (2011–2013) ** Deputy Alfredo Pallini (2011–2012) *René Brülhart (2013–2014) ** Deputy ''ad interim'' Tommaso Di Ruzza (2014–2015) *Tommaso Di Ruzza (2015–2020) *Giuseppe Schlitzer (since 2020)

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control Government of Vatican City

Vatican City Vatican City (), officially the Vatican City State ( it, Stato della Città del Vaticano; la, Status Civitatis Vaticanae),—' * german: Vatikanstadt, cf. '—' (in Austria: ') * pl, Miasto Watykańskie, cf. '—' * pt, Cidade do Vati ...

Financial crime prevention