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5 NEWS 14.4.2022 DURING 2021, MeDirect Group moved forward dynamically in the implementa- tion of its strategic roadmap and demon- strated continued resilience and ability in responding to a rapidly evolving market environment through its transformation and technology strategy. When announcing the full-year 2021 financial results, MeDirect stated that it continued to transform its balance sheet, developed its WealthTech platform by launching its new Wealth SuperApp in both Malta and Belgium, launched a number of new asset classes such as Bel- gian and Maltese mortgages and built its capital buffers to historically high levels. "Our strategic goal is to create a pan-European WealthTech leader and grow a complementary specialised mort- gage platform as the two main sources of value creation. e successful delivery of that strategy rests on the ability to build our WealthTech platform, grow our re- tail franchise focused on affluent cus- tomers, de-risk and diversify our balance sheet through mortgages and strengthen the operating model," said Arnaud Den- is, Chief Executive Officer of MeDirect Group. One core development that took place in 2021 was the continued develop- ment of MeDirect's Wealth SuperApp, designed to meet the needs of the un- derserved affluent market segment for wealth services. e aim is to offer, on a single platform with open architec- ture, a broad range of online investment solutions, superior user experience and attractive pricing, combined with high quality transactional banking ca- pabilities. Customers can choose from amongst more than 1,500 mutual funds, as well as 500 ETFs, 3,000 equities and 300 bonds, trading on 17 stock exchang- es around the world. is package of investment services is complemented by seamless and easy-to- use mobile banking with multi-currency capabilities. Later in 2022, MeDirect in- tends to launch its virtual and physical card product. rough one attractive and easy-to-use platform, MeDirect provides its clients with the choice of how they want to invest and grow their money, while giving them the possibili- ty to use the app seamlessly for everyday banking. Denis added: "e Group operates as a tech company on par with fintech stand- ards. MeDirect has evolved as a service aggregator with a cloud-agnostic plat- form designed with scale in-mind and substantial room for growth. As one of its core advantages, MeDirect owns the intellectual property of critical elements of its value proposition, including all client-touchpoints and service aggrega- tion capabilities. is has enabled the delivery of a true omni-channel solution available on both web and mobile." He said that the Group's performance was achieved in a year marked by the extreme disruptions resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as economic and geo-political dislocations including higher inflation, supply chain disrup- tions and increased international ten- sions. MeDirect's customer base grew to 102,000 in 2021, up 37% from year-end 2020. In addition, a 165% increase in new customers was recorded in 2021, with 30,000 new customers acquired during the year. e Group's customers accounted for €4.5 billion of client financial assets, of which €1.5 billion were investments held in custody with MeDirect. MeDirect Group continued the de-risking and diversification of its bal- ance sheet, a process that started in 2019. As a result, the Group's interna- tional corporate lending portfolio has been reduced to €0.6 billion at year-end 2021, down from a peak of €1.8 billion in March 2019. e capital released has been used to strengthen MeDirect's capital ratios and to reinvest in mortgage products in the Netherlands and more recently in Malta and Belgium. MeDirect's low-risk Dutch government guaranteed mortgage port- folio reached €1.7 billion by year-end 2021. MeDirect's total capital ratio has in- creased to 19.2%, the highest since it began to be regulated by the European Central Bank as part of the Single Su- pervisory Mechanism in 2016. MeDirect also maintains ample liquidity, with a Liquidity Coverage Ratio of 363% as of year-end 2021. Such ratios are in excess of all regulato- ry requirements, recommendations and management buffers. Notwithstanding significant continuing investment in its technology platform and the growth of its operations, MeDi- rect has managed to maintain its fixed cost base almost flat when compared to the previous year. As a percentage of to- tal assets, fixed costs were reduced from 1.50% in 2020 to 1.24% in 2021. e reduction in impairments referred to earlier and cost discipline contributed to a significantly improved financial per- formance, from a loss before tax of €75 million in 2020 to a loss before tax of €14 million in 2021, while continuing to sig- nificantly invest in the platform. MeDirect Group has intensified its fo- cus on environmental, social and govern- ance (ESG) initiatives, with the appoint- ment of a Group Head of Sustainability and the set-up of an ESG Committee. In addition, it continues to integrate ESG principles into the business and raise ESG awareness within the organisation. In the context of workplace diversity, MeDirect employs the nationals of over 22 countries and has a workforce that is 41% female, including a number of sen- ior executives. Denis concluded: "In summary, 2021 witnessed the Group's recovery from the extraordinary challenges of 2020. In spite of a volatile macroeconomic environment, MeDirect continued to show highly disciplined execution of its strategic transformation roadmap. Not- withstanding the macro-economic chal- lenges, the Group is confident that it can create a sustainable business model by executing its business plan and deploy- ing its leading WealthTech platform at a pan-European level." MeDirect Bank continues to invest in technology and deliver growth

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