Vatican City State receives elevated Standard Ethics Rating
(Vatican Radio) The Standard Ethics independent rating agency has announced it has
elevated the Standard Ethics Rating (SER) attributed to Vatican City State from “EE-”
to “EE.”
The Standard Ethics Rating is a benchmarking tool on sustainability,
social responsibility, governance and environment.
The sustainability ratings
issued by Standard Ethics are the result of statistical and scientific work carried
out to take a snapshot of the economic world in relation to ethical principles promoted
by large international organisations.
In a note, Standard Ethics reported that
since it was given a “positive outlook” last July, Vatican City State has successfully
met international requests to provide greater financial and accounts transparency
of its financial institutions.
The note clarifies that significant steps were
taken against money laundering, illicit financial transactions and financing of terrorism,
in great part due to the Vatican’s gradual adherence to criteria laid out by the Financial
Action Task Force (Groupe d’action financière FATF-GAFI) and adoption of recommendations
from the Moneyval Division of the Council of Europe.
Furthermore, Standard
Ethics reports that the most significant step forward was provided with the approval
by the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State of Legislation n. XVIII of October
8, 2013. This law provides for a stable body governing transparency, supervision
and financial information. The new law follows the constitution a few years ago of
the Authority for Financial Information (AIF).
Further elements of transparency,
the communique reports, are the publication of the Annual Report on Financial Activity,
and the AIF’s Year 1- 2012 publication of the annual report on the website of the
Vatican Bank (Istituto per le Opere Religiose IOR) on October 1, 2013.