The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (“OFSI“) published an update to the monetary penalties for breaches of financial sanctions guidance (“Guidance”) on 2 May 2024 (see here). The Guidance explains when and how OFSI will use its civil enforcement powers to impose monetary penalties for breaches of financial sanctions, including guidance on how such penalties will be calculated. The most recent changes primarily focus on Chapter 3 (Case assessment) of the Guidance.
Following the recent update, OFSI will now always apply the most recent iteration of its Enforcement guidance to cases. The Guidance now also contains a better explanation of how to apply and split “case factors”, which OFSI uses to assess suspected breaches of financial sanctions. Two new distinct case factors, which were previously included more generally in the Guidance, have been introduced as separate sub-sections: “Intent, knowledge, reasonable cause to suspect etc.” and “Co-operation”. Further, Chapter 6 includes a minor edit in relation to the delegation of ministerial reviews of monetary penalties.
