Pope Francis has appointed the Filipino-American economist, Dr. Roberto Mariano, as part of the Vatican financial intelligence and anti-money laundering unit.

Mariano is now serving as a board member of the Supervisory and Financial Information Authority (ASIF) after his appointment on May 9, as posted on the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) news website.

Born in Rizal province, Mariano, 78, arrived in the U.S. in the 1960s and became a naturalized citizen in 1980.

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

He has also worked as a consultant to multinational institutions, central banks, government agencies, and private companies in Asia and the United States.

He is a professor emeritus of economics at the University of Pennsylvania, where he has been part of the faculty since 1971. He has also served as the undergraduate chair in the Department of Economics.

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” that Professor Mariano “will be able to contribute his experience and professionalism for an outstanding fulfillment of the tasks” assigned to ASIF.

Roberto Mariano is a professor emeritus at Singapore Management University and was the founding Dean of the School of Economics and Vice Provost for Research from 2002 to 2010.

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

Photo Credit: https://economics.sas.upenn.edu/

Source: https://cbcpnews.net/cbcpnews/pope-francis-appoints-fil-am-economist-to-vatican-financial-watchdog-agency/, www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2022-05/economist-roberto-sanchez-mariano-appointed-to-asif-board.html