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Banco Ambrosiano

Milan bank that collapsed in 1982.

7 links, 1 backed by primary records

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Who holds Banco Ambrosiano

Banco Ambrosiano of Milan was run by Roberto Calvi. It collapsed in 1982 with about $1.2 to $1.3 billion unrecovered; see Collapse of Banco Ambrosiano.

Connections 7

chaired by

settled with

  • Institute for the Works of Religion 25 May 1984 $244M, payment "in recognition of its moral involvement"; legal responsibility denied Scholarship & press 234567

    Reports differ: TIME, from the 161-page agreement, and the Financial Times say $244 million; the Christian Science Monitor, the Associated Press, the Los Angeles Times and an Italian press report on the Vatican's papers say $250 million. TIME says the Vatican negotiated a clause that the payment was made solely for moral reasons; the Los Angeles Times says the Vatican called it a goodwill settlement and denied any moral or legal blame. The Italian press report (no named publisher or date) says Secretary of State Casaroli decided that the Holy See would pay as moral compensation, endorsed by John Paul II at Castel Gandolfo in August 1983, while Marcinkus and the cardinals' economic commission pressed to resist, and that the IOR sold its Banco di Roma per la Svizzera holdings and the rest came from the staff pension fund. TIME instead reports a sale of the Vianini stake and borrowing from London banks.

stakeholders

  • Institute for the Works of Religion 1982 1.589%, as of 1982 Scholarship & press 1

    TIME, 1982. Italian financial sources suggested the holding could be as high as 10 per cent; Vatican officials said that was exaggerated.

funded

  • Rizzoli Editore 1977 loan of 22.5 billion lire Primary record 8

    A finding of the parliamentary commission on P2 (1984).

involved in

  • Collapse of Banco Ambrosiano the failed bank Scholarship & press 15

    Sources differ on the amount: TIME says about $1.2 billion; the Associated Press and the Los Angeles Times say $1.3 billion. The last quote is from Cardinal Martini's letter of 6 March 1987 as the press report gives it (English: in the Milan area many people lost their savings in the bankruptcy); it does not say whether they were depositors or shareholders.

  • Collapse of Banco Ambrosiano on 17 June 1982 Calvi's secretary, Graziella Corrocher, 55, fell to her death from its Milan headquarters, leaving a note Scholarship & press 1

    Another account gives her first name as Teresa.

headquartered in

Timeline 3 dates
  1. 1977 Banco Ambrosiano funded Rizzoli Editore
  2. 1982 Institute for the Works of Religion owns a stake in Banco Ambrosiano
  3. 25 May 1984 Institute for the Works of Religion settled with Banco Ambrosiano
Proof 8 sources
  1. Italy: The Great Vatican Bank Mystery (8 pages), TIME, 13 Sep 1982. Scholarship & press Archived copy
    the I.O.R. eventually became Banco Ambrosiano's fourth-largest stockholder, acquiring over the years at least 794,390 shares, or 1.589% of the bank's stock.
    He was named president of Banco Ambrosiano, and acquired more and more companies.
    Calvi began spinning his web in 1971, shortly after he became director-general of Banco Ambrosiano.
    By June 1982 the shell companies owed Banco Ambrosiano banks about $1.2 billion
    In these years the banks lent at least $800 million to low-capitalized shell companies in Panama, Luxembourg and Liechtenstein.
    The failure of Italy's huge Banco Ambrosiano, which has left more than 200 international financial institutions holding the bag for millions in loans.
    plunged to her death from the fourth floor of the bank's Milan headquarters
    She left behind an apparent suicide note saying, "May Calvi be double-cursed for the damage he has caused to the bank and its employees."
    Banco Ambrosiano of Milan, the largest private banking group in Italy
    Italian authorities have since ordered the liquidation of Banco Ambrosiano and declared the institution bankrupt.
  2. A Moral Duty, TIME, 21 May 1984. Scholarship & press Archived copy
    Last week, after nearly two years of intense negotiation, Ambrosiano’s creditors quietly circulated a 161-page agreement that called for the Vatican to pay them $244 million in recognition of its “moral involvement” in the bank failure.
    To raise funds for the settlement, which is due by June 30, the church recently sold its controlling interest in Vianini, one of Italy’s largest construction companies, for an estimated $35 million.
    In arriving at a settlement with Ambrosiano’s 120 bank creditors, the Vatican negotiated a clause stating that the payment was being made solely because of moral considerations.
    According to one church official, the settlement will mean that the Vatican’s accountability in the matter “will finally be completely resolved.”
  3. News In Brief (Vatican bank agrees to pay a failed bank's creditors), The Christian Science Monitor, 22 May 1984. Scholarship & press
    The Vatican bank has signed a tentative accord calling for the institution to pay $250 million to the creditors of Italy's largest private bank
  4. All acquitted in 'God's banker' murder trial, The Associated Press (via NBC News), 6 Jun 2007. Scholarship & press
    While denying any wrongdoing, the Vatican bank agreed to pay US$250 million to Ambrosiano's creditors.
  5. Famiglia Cristiana pubblica la lettera in cui il cardinale Martini chiede la rimozione di Marcinkus (press report on the Casaroli papers), Press report hosted by the Archdiocese of Milan. Scholarship & press
    L’accordo venne firmato il 25 maggio 1984 a Ginevra.
    decise che la Santa Sede avrebbe versato, a titolo di indennizzo morale, senza riconoscere alcuna responsabilità, una somma di 250 milioni di dollari
    Marcinkus e i presuli della commissione economica cardinalizia premevano affinché il Vaticano facesse muro
    L’accordo sull’indennizzo di 250 milioni di dollari fu avallato anche da Giovanni Paolo II in una riunione segreta che si tenne a Castel Gandolfo nell’agosto 1983
    Per far fronte a quella somma lo Ior dovette vendere le partecipazioni del Banco di Roma per la Svizzera.
    Il resto venne ricavato dal fondo pensione dei dipendenti.
    nella quale molte persone hanno perso i loro risparmi a causa della bancarotta del Banco Ambrosiano
  6. Former Vatican bank chief Paul Marcinkus, 84, dies, The Seattle Times (Los Angeles Times), 22 Feb 2006. Scholarship & press
    The Vatican, a major shareholder in Banco Ambrosiano, paid $250 million to the failed institution's creditors in what it called a goodwill settlement. It denied any moral or legal blame.
    Archbishop Marcinkus always denied any involvement in the bank's failure and said the Catholic Church should not have made the payment.
  7. Pope's top banker in money laundering probe, Financial Times (via BishopAccountability.org), 21 Sep 2010. Scholarship & press
    In 1984 the Vatican denied all wrongdoing but IOR paid $244m to creditors of the collapsed bank in exchange for the dropping of further claims against the Vatican.
  8. Relazione della Commissione parlamentare d'inchiesta sulla loggia massonica P2 (Doc. XXIII n. 2, IX legislatura; majority report by Tina Anselmi), Camera dei deputati e Senato della Repubblica, 12 Jul 1984. Primary record Archived copy
    Le banche del gruppo Ambrosiano concedono infatti un finanziamento per 22,5 miliardi di lire alla Rizzoli Editore
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