Otbasy Bank JSC recognizes the significance of its economic and social activities and strives to ensure a high level of transparency for its internal and external stakeholders.

The Bank's 2025 Sustainability Report (hereinafter referred to as the Report) presents information on the Bank's activities in the field of sustainable development, stakeholder engagement, employee support and development, human rights compliance, environmental impact reduction, and its contribution to the country's economic development. The Report reflects the Bank’s approach to responsible business conduct in alignment with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (hereinafter referred to as the UN SDGs) and in the interests of all stakeholders with whom the Bank interacts: clients, partners, investors, government authorities, suppliers, employees, and society.

The Report has been prepared in accordance with the Global Reporting Initiative Standards (hereinafter referred to as the GRI Standards), the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) Standards for the financial sector (Commercial Banks, Consumer Finance, Mortgage Finance), as well as applying select provisions of International Financial Reporting Standard S2 (hereinafter referred to as IFRS S2). It also incorporates provisions of the Corporate Governance Code, the Sustainable Development Policy, and other internal documents of the Bank, while taking into account the recommendations of the Agency of the Republic of Kazakhstan for Regulation and Development of the Financial Market (hereinafter referred to as the ARDFM) within the framework of the Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG) Information Disclosure Guidance for banks and other financial organizations, and global best practices.

In 2025, for the second consecutive year, the Bank's Annual Report was recognized as the best among the listed companies of the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE), which testifies to the high level of transparency, quality of information disclosure, and the Bank's commitment to corporate governance best practices.

This Report is the Bank's sixth non-financial report and covers the Bank's performance results from January 1, 2025, to December 31, 2025. The reporting periods of the Bank's financial statements and the Sustainability Report are identical. The Report is discussed by the Bank's Strategy and Corporate Development Committee, the Management Board of the Bank, the Strategic Planning and Corporate Development Committee of the Bank's Board of Directors and is subsequently approved at a meeting of the Bank's Board of Directors.

The Bank publishes non-financial reporting on its activities, addressing a wide range of stakeholders, striving to provide a balanced presentation of material information that meets the interests of each group. The Bank plans to continuously improve the quality of its information disclosure.

Selected information presented in this report and prepared in accordance with the GRI and SASB standards has undergone independent external assurance performed by PricewaterhouseCoopers Tax and Advisory LLP in accordance with International Standard on Assurance Engagements (ISAE) 3000 (Revised), ("Assurance Engagements Other than Audits or Reviews of Historical Financial Information"), issued by the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board, which provides for performance of procedures to express a limited assurance conclusion on the specified information based on applicable criteria. Selected information for the year ended December 31, 2025, which has been subject to a limited assurance review, is marked with the "✓" symbol.

Defining report content

The process of defining and assessing material topics was conducted in accordance with the GRI Standard. To determine the list of information to be included in the present report, the Bank analyzed all sustainability topics proposed by the GRI Standards, SASB, IFRS S2, ARDFM, as well as best practices. Topics were assessed by degree of importance for the Bank, taking into account its development strategy, and by degree of importance for stakeholders, which was determined in the course of engagement with them during the year. At the same time, topics were assessed taking into account the principle of double materiality – both from the perspective of the impact of the Bank's activities on the economy, the environment and society, including human rights, and from the position of the influence of external factors on the activities of the Bank itself.

Based on the results of the analysis, a questionnaire was prepared, with the help of which a survey was conducted among the Bank's stakeholders (members of the Board of Directors, Management Board, Bank employees, JSC "Baiterek" NIH" (hereinafter – the Holding) and other subsidiaries of the Holding, media representatives, external auditors, etc.). 32 respondents took part in the survey. Each of them was asked to assess the importance of various topics for the annual report and sustainability report for 2025 using a five-point scale for assessment, where a higher score indicated a more significant topic. The significance of each topic was ranked in terms of importance for internal and external stakeholders.

The results of the materiality assessment are presented in the form of a matrix. The topics highlighted in gray in the table below are the most important for the Bank and stakeholders. Based on the survey results, 9 most material topics were identified and received the highest scores, with an average value close to 4.5 points, calculated according to the criteria of impact on the Bank's activities and significance for stakeholders. Topics that fell into the upper right corner of this matrix were recognized as the most material and were disclosed in the present report in full. 

Materiality matrix

Report Boundaries

This Report contains information on the Bank's activities in the field of sustainable development, specifically covering the Bank's Head Office and its branches. More detailed information about the Bank, including its operational performance results, is disclosed in the Bank's 2025 Annual Report. The Bank's 2025 Annual Report is published on the official website hcsbk.kz under the "About the Bank" / "Reporting" and "Sustainable Development" / "ESG Reporting" sections. The information collection boundaries for material topics have been defined to ensure that the Report fully and comprehensively reflects the most significant impacts of the Bank's operations.