The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (“OFSI“) published an update to the monetary penalties for breaches of financial sanctions guidance on 28 January 2022 (see here). The guidance sets out how OFSI will decide when to use its civil enforcement powers to impose monetary penalties for breaches of financial sanctions, and how such penalties will be calculated.
In the recent update, changes were made to the guidance on when OFSI will consider investigation and enforcement to be in the public interest. These updates emphasise the level of discretion that OFSI may have to determine whether to take action and whether to utilise civil enforcement powers. Further, the changes remove previous commentary and examples of considerations that would factor into OFSI’s assessment of whether it is in the public interest to take such steps.
