Pope Francis has ousted the all-Italian board of the Vatican's financial watchdog agency, installing a more international set of experts following repeated clashes between the board and the agency's director.

The four new board members announced Thursday are from Italy, Switzerland, Singapore and the United States.

The board of the Financial Information Authority had complained that it was being kept in the dark about agency activities since Swiss anti-money-laundering expert Rene Bruelhart arrived as director in 2012. The infighting led to the resignation of Italian Cardinal Attilio Nicora as authority president earlier this year.

The Vatican created the agency in 2010 to supervise and regulate the Holy See's financial activities and share financial information with other countries to comply with international anti-money laundering norms.