The Supervisory and Financial Information Authority (Autorità di Supervisione e Informazione Finanziaria, or ASIF) is the central institution in the Holy See and Vatican City State that is responsible for the prevention and countering of money laundering, terrorist financing and the financing of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (AML/CFT/CPT).
Furthermore, ASIF is also the central authority for the supervision and prudential regulation of entities that professionally carry out financial activities[4] (to date, exclusively the Istituto per le Opere di Religione).
The Authority, originally named the Financial Information Authority (Autorità di Informazione Finanziaria, or AIF), was established by Pope Benedict XVI on 30 December 2010 with the Apostolic Letter issued Motu Proprio“ for the prevention and countering of illegal activities in the area of monetary and financial dealings”.
[6] The powers of the Authority were confirmed by Pope Francis on 15 November 2013 through an Apostolic Letter issued Motu Proprio, with which a new Statute was approved[3].
On 5 December 2020, Pope Francis approved[7] an updated version of the Statute, by virtue of which the Authority took on its current name and a new organizational structure, one that is more responsive to its operational and institutional needs.