The European Banking Authority (EBA) has published a further package of technical standards and guidelines under the Markets in Cryptoassets Regulation (EU) 2023/1114 (MiCAR), covering reporting, liquidity stress testing and supervisory colleges. This package completes the delivery of EBA technical standards under MiCAR.

Restructuring & Insolvency analysis: When the Bank of Scotland’s patience was finally exhausted, it exercised its rights under its loan and security documentation, resulting in the Telegraph Media Group being put up for sale. Against a backdrop of more expensive debt, what options might a borrower have when faced with an impending maturity date? And what tools might its lenders seek to use? Written by Matt Padian, partner and Joanna Charter, senior knowledge lawyer at Stevens & Bolton LLP.

A round-up of EU financial services developments.

The Bank of England (BoE) has published a speech by Jonathan Hall, an external member of the Financial Policy Committee (FPC), in which he discussed how developments in artificial intelligence (AI) could affect financial stability, and said a new set of stress tests for UK financial services could be introduced to test the functioning of deep-learning models.

The Law Society has published a technical note on physical climate risks, providing additional guidance for solicitors and their clients on how these risks may impact UK properties. The note covers risks such as coastal erosion, ground stability, heat stress and heat exposure, and wildfires, among other aspects. It supplements the Law Society’s climate change and property practice note, published on 12 May 2025.

Introduction This Practice Note sets out the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)’s approach to sustainable finance and environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues, including climate and sustainability reporting, sustainability disclosure requirements (SDR), investment labels and anti-greenwashing. It also covers the FCA’s work on ESG ratings and international standards, supervision, governance and stewardship. For information on the UK Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA)’s focus areas, primarily in relation to prudential supervision of climate risk management and related stress tests, see Practice Notes: Prudential supervision of climate risk management in the UK and Climate scenario analysis, stress testing and capital requirements in the UK. The UK sustainable finance framework includes sustainability reporting, investment labels, transition finance and regulation of ESG ratings. It does not include a UK green taxonomy. FCA’s approach to sustainable finance and ESG The FCA articulates its approach on its Climate change and sustainable finance webpage, and in its Strategy 2025 to 2030, and annual work programme for 2026/27. The FCA’s sector-specific supervisory priorities are set out in its Regulatory

Law360, Expert analysis: Against the backdrop of greater focus on European competitiveness and a changed geopolitical landscape following the US presidential election, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) is consulting on draft regulatory technical standards (RTS) for open-ended loan-originating alternative investment funds, or AIFs, under the AIF Managers Directive (EU) 2024/927 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 March 2024 (AIFMD II). Aaron Mulcahy, partner at Maples Group, highlights the growth in semi-liquid evergreen funds and sets out the key proposals of ESMA in the standards

A round-up of EU financial services developments.

A round-up of EU financial services developments.

The answer to this will depend on: • the type of absence, ie whether the absence is made up of one long period of absence, typically running into several months (or more than one long period, with any returns to work in between being brief), or is a series of short-term intermittent absences typically lasting a few days • what the contract of employment says (if anything) about termination rights for sickness absence—for an example see Precedent: Clauses—termination [Archived] (clause 2.2) • what the employer’s sickness policy (if it has one) says about sickness absence—for an example see Precedent: Policy—performance and capability • whether the employee is, or may be, disabled—see Practice Note: Disability There is no specific 'safe' date or formula which applies, as it will all depend on the circumstances of each individual case. Ultimately this is not as much about how long the absence is as it is about what steps the employer has taken to deal with the situation, that

A round-up of EU financial services developments.

This Practice Note examines employment-related claims that either may or must be brought in the High Court or County Court. It gives a very high level overview of the procedure applicable to employment-related claims in the High Court and County Court under the Civil Procedure Rules 1998 (CPR) and signposts further resources available in the Dispute Resolution module which provide a full and comprehensive guide to civil procedure. It also considers: how to deal with overlapping employment tribunal and civil court claims; post-termination restrictions (restrictive covenant) claims; tortious claims (eg personal injury, negligence and stress at work); in which court the claim should be brought; judicial review proceedings; and the time limits for civil court proceedings, extending time and determining the limitation period. It then contains an overview of the main procedural steps in a claim in the civil courts: pre-action steps including the Practice Direction Pre-Action Conduct and Protocols, compliance with pre-action protocols, pre-action behaviour in non-protocol cases, how to start a claim, defendant’s action after particulars of claim are served, case management,