Pope names all-new board to Vatican financial oversight agency

June 05, 2014

Pope Francis has replaced the entire board of the Financial Information Authority (AIF), the agency established in 2010 to supervise all Vatican financial affairs.

Dismissing the five Italian members of the AIF board, who had been scheduled to serve until 2016, the Pontiff appointed four new members from four different countries. The housecleaning on the AIF board is seen as a new move to ensure accountability and guard against money-laundering, and to strengthen the hand of Rene Bruelhart, the financial expert who was named in 2012 as the agency’s director.

The four new board members are:

• Marc Odendall, a Swiss consultant;
• Joseph Yuvarj Pillay, a senior economic adviser to the president of Singapore;
• Maria Bianca Farina, an Italian insurance executive; and
• Juan Zarate, a Harvard law professor and former White House counter-terrorism strategist.

The new board members were all appointed to 5-year terms.

 

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Further information:

• Other Pontifical Acts (VIS)
• Pope Francis Shakes up Vatican Financial Watchdog (AP)
• Pope Francis shakes up Vatican’s finance panel (Boston Globe)
• Pope fires entire board of Vatican financial watchdog (Reuters)