Vatican Sees Drop in Suspicious Activity Reports Amid Push for Higher Quality Oversight

The Vatican City recorded a marked decline in the number of suspicious activity reports (SARs) filed in 2024, with officials attributing the drop to improved case selection and more refined reporting standards. The Financial Supervisory and Information Authority, the Vatican’s financial intelligence body, reported 79 SARs for the year, a significant reduction from the 123 filed in 2023.

In its latest annual report, the authority explained the development by pointing to ongoing improvements in the way cases are assessed before being flagged. “This trend appears to be mainly attributable to the progressive refinement of the selection process for cases to be reported,” the organization stated.

Despite the overall decrease in the volume of SARs, the number of reports forwarded to the Office of the Promoter of Justice (OPJ), the Vatican’s prosecutorial body, remained consistent year-on-year. “In fact, despite the decline in the number of SARs received, the number of reports transmitted to the Office of the Promoter of Justice remained stable at 11 Reports in 2024,” the Financial Supervisory and Information Authority noted.

The report also emphasized the positive feedback received from MONEYVAL, the Council of Europe’s committee tasked with evaluating anti-money laundering (AML) frameworks. “The result of the assessment was broadly positive, confirming the Holy See/Vatican City State’s efforts to prevent and counter money laundering,” the report said.

This assessment marks a notable improvement from 2021, when MONEYVAL identified a number of weaknesses in the Vatican’s approach to tackling financial crime. By May 2024, the organization acknowledged that many of these shortcomings had been addressed.

According to the latest evaluation, the Holy See — which refers to the jurisdiction of the Pope and includes Vatican City — made significant strides in its compliance with key Financial Action Task Force (FATF) recommendations. In particular, the Vatican demonstrated stronger compliance with Recommendation 13 on correspondent banking, Recommendation 16 on wire transfers, and Recommendation 24 on the transparency and beneficial ownership of legal persons.

Out of the 39 applicable FATF Recommendations, the Holy See received ratings of compliant or largely compliant on 35 of them, with only four remaining rated as partially compliant.

By fLEXI tEAM