I need a brief history of the Bank of the Holy Spirit in Rome, Italy. 
What are the assets of this institution?  Is it the same as the
Vatican Bank?

Hello.

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History
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The Bank of the Holy Spirit (Banco di Santo Spirito) was founded by
Pope Paul V, a member of the Borghese family, in 1605.
sources: Who's Who in Italy
http://www.whoswho-sutter.com/cgi-bin/wrapper/whoswho-search2?WSWWWWFNWW
UK Yahoo:
http://uk.biz.yahoo.com/p/c/cpta.mi.html

During its "primo periodo" (1605 - 1923), the bank provided capital
for construction of churches and hospitals in Rome, and for general
commercial purposes.
http://www.bancaroma.it/archivio/sez_archivio/fondi_ss.htm

The web page "STRENNA DEI  ROMANISTI" has a fairly good history of the
Bank of the Holy Spirit in Italian:
http://209.227.241.239/foglio/romanisti/strenna_1997.htm

Highlights:
Dec 13, 1605 - Founded by Pope Paul V
Feb 20, 1606 - Begin banking activities
1606-1750- Bank takes private deposits, manages public debt, and makes
loans to patrician families
1750 - Pope Benedict XIV reorganizes the bank and restricts its
lending activities.
1785 - The bank plays a prominent role in the introduction of a new
paper currency
1870 - The bank plays a role in solving the problems related to urban
development
1923 - The bank completely reorganized become a joint-stock company
1935 - Control of the shares by the IRI (Istituto per la
Riconstruzione Industriale, i.e., an agency of the Italian
government).  Bank intensifies its work on local economic activities.
1989 - Merges with Cassa di Risparmio di Roma (a savings and loan)
1992 - Merges with Banca di Roma 

Use the Babelfish translation tool to decipher the text if you wish:
http://babelfish.altavista.com/

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Assets
--------
As indicated, the bank has merged into the Banca di Roma.  If you're
interested in the assets of this bank, the 2002 balance sheet
indicates that most of the assets are in the form of cash, loans,
bonds, investments, etc.
http://www.bancaroma.it/investor/comu020203result.pdf

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Vatican Bank
-------------

As indicated, Banco di Santo Spirito was a church-owned bank for
almost 300 years, but it became a shareholder-owned bank in 1923. The
IRI, an agency of the Italian government, became the largest
shareholder.  Eventually, the bank merged with other commercial banks
and is now part of a large banking conglomerate.

The Banco di Santo Spirito is not the same as the "Vatican Bank." The
"Vatican Bank" is a different entity called the "Istituto per le Opere
di Religione" ("Institute for Religious Works"). That bank was founded
in 1887 by Pope Leo XIII, and is still an independent bank.
sources:
vatican banks
http://www.portalino.it/banks/_va.htm
Cws.com
http://www.cwnews.com/news/biosgloss/definition.cfm?glossID=64


search strategy: 
"santo spirito" bank, vatican
"banco di santo spirito", 1923

I hope this helps..

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Clarification of Answer by juggler-ga on 02 Sep 2003 15:41 PDT

I should have mentioned that that Banca di Roma 2002 balance sheet is
in PDF format, so the Adobe Acrobat Reader is required. If you don't
have that, please visit Adobe's web site:
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html

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Request for Answer Clarification by wscherer-ga on 03 Sep 2003 06:43 PDT

Hi. Great answer. Wondering how long it took you to find this?!  
Thanks

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Clarification of Answer by juggler-ga on 03 Sep 2003 09:46 PDT

Hmmm...  It's hard to say.  I think I had the question locked for a
couple hours.  Maybe 30 minutes or so of that was spent searching.  I
know a little Italian, so that helped a bit.

Regards,
juggler

Accurate, quick and clear.  Thank you very much!