Vatican Bank profit soars to 70 million

Although Pope Francis declared that he would like to have “a poor church for the poor”, the accounting does not agree with Bergoglio. 

The balance sheet of the Institute for Works of Religion (IOR), also known as Vatican Bank, has presented this week a profit of 69, 3 millions of Euros, which will be assigned to the Holy See’s budget – 55 millions – and to the capital reserve of the bank - 14, 3 millions - .

According to the Institute, which carried out a renovation and clean-up process when Francis arrived, after the serious accusations they received, the increase in earnings this year is due to “the operation of securities trading and lower operating costs of an exceptional.”

Additionally, during its renovation process, the Vatican also discovered hundreds of millions of Euros hidden in the accounts departments and the bank itself.

The document recalled that the Pope demanded that the IOR must continue to “serve with care and provide specialized financial services to the Catholic Church in the world, as well as to help him in his mission as universal pastor “.

For this, they received instructions to complete a plan which defined the future of the Institute, in accordance with those requirements; the plan was developed by the institution in 2014.

MORE THAN 4,000 SUSPICIOUS ACCOUNTS CLOSED

The bank continues to close suspicious accounts connected to money of unknown origin. According to the document, on December 31^st 2014, the institution had 15,181 customers compared to the 17.419 clients of 2013. In May 2013, 4,614 suspicious accounts were closed and only 1,066 new accounts were opened.

At the end of 2014, there were still 274 accounts that needed to be closed, 148 of which will be closed before the end of May 2015, the IOR has confirmed.

“The main focus is on fundamentally improving our overall client service standards and further professionalising our asset management services," IOR chairman Jean-Baptiste de Franssu said in a statement.