BVI FIU informs the industry about its new powers to impose fines

On 17 September 2021 the BVI’s FIU, the Financial Investigations Agency (FIA), informed the industry of its new powers to impose fines under the Financial Investigations Agency Act 2003 (theFIA Act). The new fines will apply where firms are late in providing information and documents to the FIA following the issuance of a notice to produce information. The change was brought in through the enactment of a new section 5K to the FIA Act by the Financial Investigation Agency (Amendment) Act 2021.

Under new section 5K, where a person commits an offence under the FIA Act – for example, failing to comply with a notice to produce information within a period of five days or any subsequent extension granted – for which the penalty prescribed is or includes a fine, the FIA may, impose a fine by accepting from the person not less than one-half of the penalty fine prescribed.

Before imposing a fine the FIA would need to:

• Notify the person of the offence it has committed
• Advise the person of the FIA’s intention to impose a specified fine
• Invite the person to indicate whether or not the person agrees with the imposition of the fine

Where the person agrees to the imposition of a fine by the FIA, the FIA should by notice addressed to the person, impose the intended fine which must be paid within 21 days from the date of the notice.

Where a person fails to pay a fine or disagrees with the imposition of a fine, the person may be subject to further prosecution.

If you have received a notice from the FIA in relation to the proposed imposition of a fine and require any legal assistance, please do feel free to get in touch with us.

The relevant notice can be found here.