Debit and Credit Card Purchases Shut Down at Vatican
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Version 0 of 1. VATICAN CITY — If you’re planning a trip to the Vatican, be sure to take cash. Since Wednesday, museums and businesses there have been declining credit card and debit card purchases after a decision by the Bank of Italy that is linked to concerns over financial accountability and inadequate money-laundering controls. Cash machines have also been shut down, except for those with a Vatican Bank debit card, after the Italian central bank refused authorization for Deutsche Bank’s Italian unit to continue providing services within the Vatican’s walls. Some commentators have mused on the paradox of telling people to use cash when trying to monitor money-laundering activities. The Vatican has played down the episode, passing it off as a temporary glitch after the expiration of an agreement between some Holy See offices and the current provider of its electronic point-of-sale services. The Vatican spokesman, Federico Lombardi, told reporters this week that discussions with other providers were under way, and that the interruption of credit card and debit card purchases “would be short-lived.” But the Bank of Italy’s actions underscore larger concerns about the transparency of the Vatican’s finances, something that Pope Benedict XVI has promised to fix. The Bank of Italy — which monitors the activities of Italian banking institutions, even in foreign states — did not issue a formal statement. But financial experts said the bank’s decision reflected concrete concerns over banking and financial legislation at Vatican City State, as well as an inadequate system of independent supervision. While the Holy See has traditionally been tight-lipped about the dealings of its primary financial institution, the Institute for Works of Religion, also known as the Vatican Bank, the Vatican has worked in recent years to comply with international transparency and money-laundering standards, with mixed results. A report evaluating measures to combat money laundering and terrorist financing issued last July by Moneyval, an official European financial watchdog, found that the Vatican bank had come a long way in a short time, yet still lagged in monitoring suspicious activities and did not carry out sufficient due diligence. Under Benedict, the Vatican has undertaken a series of measures to become more transparent, even hiring a Swiss anti-money-laundering expert, René Brülhart, to oversee the process. Mr. Brülhart’s brief involves getting the Vatican added to a “white list” of territories judged to comply with international standards on combating financial crime. As the current ban on credit cards suggests, the Vatican’s efforts to clean up its finances have been only partly successful. Vatican museum officials said Friday that the credit card ban had not hurt attendance. “The museums are full, and people can still reserve tickets online, so everything seems to be working well,” said Lucina Vattuone, of the Vatican Museum Press Office, noting, however, that making reservations online would be possible only until Jan. 15. At least one visitor on Friday, Marcos Roade of Mexico, could attest to that. “The real problem is that there are too many people in the museums,” he said. “It’s not a museum, it’s a business.” |