Home News Pope Francis names Filipino-American economist to Vatican financial watchdog agency

Pope Francis names Filipino-American economist to Vatican financial watchdog agency

Dr. Roberto Mariano is now board member of the Supervisory and Financial Information Authority or ASIF following his appointment on May 9

Pope Francis has recently appointed an internationally renowned Filipino-American economist to the Holy See’s financial intelligence and anti-money laundering unit.

Dr. Roberto Mariano is now a board member of the Supervisory and Financial Information Authority or ASIF following his appointment on May 9.

Born in Rizal province in 1944, he arrived in the U.S. in the 1960s and became naturalized citizen in 1980.



Mariano is professor emeritus of economics at the University of Pennsylvania, where he has been with the faculty since 1971, at one point serving as undergraduate chair in the Department of Economics.

He is also professor emeritus at Singapore Management University where he served as founding Dean of the School of Economics and Vice Provost for Research from 2002 to 2010.

A Fellow of the Econometric Society, Mariano served in editorial boards of international journals in economics and statistics and he has published extensively on econometric methodology in top-tier international journals.

He has also been a consultant to multinational institutions, central banks, government agencies, and private companies in Asia and the US, with a focus on econometric methodology and applications.

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According to Vatican News, Mariano is “renowned for many of the econometric models he has helped create that are used today as planning and forecasting tools.”

ASIF President Carmelo Barbagallo welcomed Mariano’s appointment, saying that his expertise will be of great service to the financial watchdog agency.

Barbagallo added he was “certain” the economist “will be able to contribute his experience and professionalism for an outstanding fulfilment of the tasks” assigned to ASIF.

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