/biz/ - Business & Finance

>>23152481
https://www.churchmilitant.com/news/article/vatican-gambled-donations-on-risky-derivatives
Pope Francis ranted against market speculation hours after the Financial Times revealed Thursday that the Vatican had invested donations for the poor to bet on the creditworthiness of now-bankrupt U.S. rental car company, Hertz.

The Vatican's Secretariat of State, under recently disgraced Cdl. Giovanni Angelo Becciu, used a €528 million Vatican-donations portfolio to purchase credit default swaps (CDS) based on a gamble that Hertz would not default on its debts by April 2020.

A CDS is a financial derivative that allows an investor to swap or offset his or her credit risk with that of another investor. Derivatives are financial contracts whose value depends on the future price of an asset such as a share, a currency, a commodity or an index.

Because of the potential risks that derivatives entail and their potential impact on the volatility of spot markets, economists have described them as "wild beasts" and "weapons of mass destruction."

Derivatives, used primarily for hedging, can also spur speculation to the point of destabilizing markets and have spawned numerous bankruptcies.

The Vatican escaped by the narrow margin of a month and gained from its gamble, after Hertz filed for bankruptcy in May 2020 following the economic crisis created by the Wuhan pandemic.

While 16,000 employees lost their jobs, Hertz CEO Kathryn Marinello pocketed over $9 million in total compensation.

Francis fired Becciu two weeks ago amidst allegations of the deputy secretary of state dipping into Vatican coffers to embezzle money, fund the projects of his three brothers and even funnel funds to Australia to be used to bribe witnesses in the sex abuse cases against Cdl. George Pell.

However, in a strongly worded column, former papal envoy to the U.S. and Vatican whistleblower Abp. Carlo Maria Viganò questioned the sacking and Francis involvement.

>>17578448
>St. Peter's Basilica is a large snake with a crown on it

>>15892687

>>15854372

>>15510028