Vatican and Bank of Italy sign key agreement after years of mistrust

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - The Vatican and the Bank of Italy on Tuesday signed a cooperation agreement aimed at regularising their relations and ending years of Italian mistrust over the operations of the Holy See's bank.

The agreement, signed by BOI Governor Ignacio Visco and Rene Bruelhart, the Vatican's top financial regulator, comes after years of financial reforms, most of them under Pope Francis, to bring the Vatican and its troubled bank up to international standards to guarantee transparency and combat money laundering.