The Institute for Works of Religion (IOR), better known as the Vatican Bank, has released its earnings statement for 2016, showing a profit of 36 million euros ($40.33 million).
On Monday, the Vatican Bank published its annual report claiming earnings more than double those of the preceding year 2015, when the Bank registered a profit of 16.1 million euros ($18 million).
“This result has been achieved thanks to a prudent approach in managing IOR’s investments in a year characterised by high volatility, global political uncertainty due to unexpected outcomes of major electoral events and low interest rates,” the IOR said in a press release Monday.
Although $40 million profit is nothing to sneeze at, it is a relatively small amount for the bank of an independent country. By comparison, the Fortune 500 companies averaged profits of $1.78 billion each in 2016, or more than 44 times that of the Vatican Bank, according to a new report by Forbes.
The bank explained that during 2016 it “continued to serve with prudence and provide specialized financial services to the Catholic Church worldwide and the Vatican City state.”
In 2016 the IOR had some 15,000 clients worldwide, consisting mostly of religious orders, Vatican employees and Catholic clergy, according to the report. As of December 31, 2016, the IOR was managing client assets worth 5.7 billion euros, slightly less that the 5.8 billion euros at the end of 2015. READ MORE
