The Bank of England (BoE) has published a speech delivered at The City UK by its financial stability strategy and risk executive director, Nathanaël Benjamin, on its new approach to stress testing banks, and developments in stress tests of other parts of the financial sector. The new approach combines regular stress testing for cyclical risks with the flexibility to explore different risks. It consists of three key components: biennial Bank Capital Stress Tests involving bank submissions, less burdensome desk-based exercises in intervening years, and exploratory exercises for structural and emerging risks.

The Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) has published its approach to the Life Insurance Stress Test (LIST) 2025 and opened its request for technical input on proposed scenario specifications, guidelines and instructions, and templates. Responses to the request for technical input will close on 6 September 2024, with early feedback encouraged.

The Bank of England (BoE) Financial Policy Committee has published its half-yearly Financial Stability Report for July 2023, in which it notes that it has maintained the UK Counter Cyclical Capital Buffer (CCyB) at 2%. The BoE has also announced the results of the 2022/23 stress test of the UK banking system, which the FPC says supports its conclusion as to UK financial stability. All banks remain above their CET1 capital and Tier 1 leverage ratio hurdle rates.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) has launched a consultation on revised Guidelines for the supervisory review and evaluation process (SREP) and supervisory stress testing. These updates aim to streamline and strengthen the EU’s supervisory framework, promoting more effective and risk-focused oversight. Key changes include improved proportionality, integration of new mandates from CRD VI and alignment with interest rate and credit spread risk packages. The revisions also incorporate ESG factors and operational resilience, reflecting lessons learned since the 2016 implementation of the original Guidelines.

The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) has launched its 2024 stress test which applies insurers in the European Economic Area to a hypothetical scenario of severe but plausible adverse developments in financial and economic conditions. Participating undertakings will have until mid-August 2024 to calculate their results based on the prescribed scenario and submit them to the relevant national supervisor. Once the results are submitted, EIOPA will undertake a quality assurance process to validate the results, which is expected to last until end of October 2024.

Banking stress tests examine the potential impact of a hypothetical adverse scenario on the individual institutions that make up the banking system, and the system as a whole.

The European Commission has adopted a Delegated Regulation with regard to regulatory technical standards (RTS) specifying adjustment of own funds requirement and minimum features of stress testing programmes of issuers of asset-referenced tokens (ARTs) or of e-money tokens (EMTs) under the Markets in Cryptoassets Regulation (Regulation EU) 2023/1114) (MiCA).

This Practice Note, produced in partnership with Osmosis from Elsevier, provides a concise medical overview of trauma and abuse-related disorders for personal injury lawyers handling psychiatric injury and psychological harm claims. For further guidance, see: Osmosis from Elsevier video: Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)—causes, symptoms, diagnosis, treatment & pathology and Osmosis from Elsevier video: Somatic symptom disorder—causes, symptoms, diagnosis, treatment & pathology. Generally, what are they? Pathology and causes • mental disorders caused by or associated with past traumatic or stressful event • abuse—intentional mistreatment of others; may be directed at anyone and often features children or the elderly ◦ increases risk of the target developing a mental disorder, generally results in depression or aggressiveness and may incite post-traumatic stress disorder • psychological symptoms lead to behavioural changes • individuals might self-medicate with substance use Signs and symptoms • anxiety or fear associated with traumatic or stressful stimuli • reduced pleasure, self-acceptance, depression, anger, aggressiveness,

The Bank of England (BoE) has published a speech by Lee Foulger, the Director of Financial Stability, Strategy and Risk at the BoE, which outlines the key conclusions from the System-Wide Exploratory Scenario (SWES) exercise regarding the resilience of core UK markets and how the behavior of market participants, while individually rational, can collectively pose risks. He highlights the importance of adopting a system-wide perspective when assessing risks to financial stability to identify potential vulnerabilities that sector-specific exercises might bypass or overlook.

Pre-existing legal relationships Sometimes psychiatric injury will occur in circumstances where there is a pre-existing legal relationship between the claimant and the defendant. There will be occasions when the nature of that relationship is such that it imposes a duty on the defendant to take reasonable care not to inflict psychiatric injury. For example: • occupational stress cases: these provide perhaps the most obvious examples of the operation of a pre-existing legal duty not to cause ‘pure’ psychiatric harm. See Practice Notes: Occupational stress claims—breach, causation and apportionment and Occupational stress claims—liability and foreseeability • health authority cases in which there is a liability for communication of distressing news: in such cases there is an established relationship between the parties. It may be foreseeable that the negligent provision of inaccurate information, or even insensitive communication of accurate information, might cause psychiatric injury. For example: ◦ a claimant suffered post-traumatic stress disorder after being told, wrongly, that his baby had died (it is noteworthy, though, that the judge’s reasoning in this case was that the claimant was

The duty to make reasonable adjustments, at sections 20–21 of the Equality Act 2010 (EqA 2010), comprises three requirements. The element that is common to all three requirements is that they will only apply where a disabled person is put at a substantial disadvantage in relation to a ‘relevant matter’ in comparison with persons who are not disabled. The distinction between the three requirements is that each one contemplates a different cause of that substantial disadvantage: • the first requirement applies where a ‘provision, criterion or practice’ applied by or on behalf of the person subject to the duty (eg the employer) causes such a disadvantage • the second requirement applies where a ‘physical feature’ causes it • the third applies where a disabled person would be put at such a disadvantage if an ‘auxiliary aid’

This Practice Note will explore what we mean by mental health and well-being, as well as the meaning of some of the terms commonly (mis)used around the subject including: stress, anxiety and depression. Positive well-being cannot be promoted without an understanding of the common issues that arise in the workplace. The aim of this Practice Note is to help you understand the impact that different mental illnesses have on people so that you can be aware of problems that might develop and are better placed to implement an effective well-being strategy. The spectrum of mental health When we talk about our physical health, we are very used to thinking in terms of positive health on one side of a spectrum where everything is functioning optimally and we are fit and healthy, and grave illness of whatever kind on the other, with a whole range of milder symptoms and conditions or illnesses in between. Equally, what the positive side of the spectrum will look like will be different for everyone. An Olympic athlete