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3 NEWS 1.6.2023 FROM PAGE 1 Now, in an announcement issued on 31 May, Lombard said that in the upcoming annual general meeting to be held on 22 June, it will be seek- ing authority for the directors to in- crease the issued share capital of the Bank through the issuance of up to 65,000,000 new ordinary shares of a nominal value of €0.125 per share in the same class as the shares in the Bank currently in issue. The price would be determined by the board of directors. No comment has as yet been forth- coming from the NDSF, but in a seem- ingly related development, Lombard Bank announced on Monday that NDSF appointed lawyer John Bonel- lo and Paul Abela, who is president of the Chamber of SMEs, as directors. They are the first directors to be ap- pointed by the fund since it acquired its shareholding five years ago. The market announcement said that the NDSF appointees have not de- clared any information which would require disclosure and will take office as non-executive directors once regu- latory approval is received. For five years, the NDSF, despite be- ing the single largest shareholder in Lombard, did not appoint directors to the bank's board, taking a back-seat role in decision-making processes. However, this changed last Novem- ber when the board of governors of NDSF blocked the bank's directors from proceeding with the share issue. The move to dilute the shareholding of existing investors prompted calls last year for the NDSF to be better represented at board level. It appears now that in line with the Articles of Association the NDSF has proceeded to appoint two directors, effectively ending its self-imposed isolation from the company's deci- sion-making process. The NDSF administers the receipts of Malta's citizenship-by-investment programme, which it disburses as grants or invests in blue-chip stocks. In 2018 it acquired a 49% equity in the private Lombard Bank – valued at just over €51 million – to facilitate the exit of the now-defunct Cyprus Pop- ular Bank. The move was intended at safeguarding the domestic position of Lombard Bank, which is the owner of Malta's major postal service, Malta- post. Over 1,200 shareholders, and in- vestment funds, hold the remaining shares. Besides the NDSF, the other major shareholders are Virtu Holdings Ltd with 9.89%, LifeStar Insurance p.l.c. with 5.59% and First Gemini p.l.c. with 5.31%. Lombard Bank has a 71.5% stake in MaltaPost plc., the national postal op- erator. Additional reporting by Kurt Sansone Lombard Bank CEO Joe Said will face off against the NDSF and other investors at the AGM on 22 June Lombard board of directors wants to issue 65,000,000 new ordinary shares MAPFRE has exceeded all the targets it had set itself to reduce the carbon footprint generated by its activities. e insurance company has decreased its overall carbon footprint by 26% com- pared to 2019, which is 22.5 points above the target set for 2022 (3.5%). is decrease is due to the Group's efforts to continue moving towards the decarbonization of the economy, not only through investing and under- writing, but also through measures to reduce the footprint of its direct oper- ations. ese include the restriction of fossil fuels and electricity, the use of renewable energy sources such as so- lar energy, the replacement of its fleet of conventional vehicles with hybrid or electric vehicles, and the reduction of business travel and employee commut- ing to work. e results reflect MAPFRE's strong commitment to sustainability and the fight against climate change, with public objectives such as reducing the Group's operational carbon footprint by 50% by 2030 (compared to 2019) and becoming a neutral company in all countries by 2030. ese challenges demand aware- ness of its current footprint and iden- tifying short, medium and long-term strategies to reduce it and offset the part that cannot be eliminated. In 2022, the Group acquired 65% of its electricity with 100% renewable or- igin guarantee certificates owing to the green electricity purchase contracts currently in place in countries such as Spain, Germany and Paraguay (100%), Portugal (99%), Brazil (70%) and Italy (50%). is means that all of them are making greater use of clean energies and require less burning of fossil fuels in the generation of such electricity. In this regard, it is worth noting that the com- pany has committed itself to ensuring that 100% of its electricity consumption will come from clean energies by 2030. e company has also reduced its carbon footprint, mainly linked to fuel consumption, by 9%, far exceeding the target of 1.7%, largely due to the pro- gressive replacement of its own fleet of vehicles with conventional combustion engines by hybrid or electric vehicles, which accounted for 15% of vehicles in 2022 and aims to reach 100% by 2030. e use of sustainable heating, which has enabled the company to replace oil and natural gas boilers with electric heat pumps, has also played a signifi- cant role. e indirect carbon footprint, mainly associated with employee mobility, has also been reduced, specifically by 29% compared to 2019, a figure that far ex- ceeds the target set (3.5% for this year) and which signals significant progress in this regard, since both business travel and commuting account for more than 65% of total emissions. is decrease has been influenced by the company's recently approved new travel policy, which aims to eliminate unnecessary travel and encourage the use of sustainable transport, such as the use of high-speed rail instead of air travel. Both measures have contributed to a 68% reduction in the carbon foot- print from business travel in 2022 com- pared to 2019, significantly exceeding the planned target of 2% by 2022. Owing to the gradual and permanent implementation of hybrid work models (on-site and remote) in the Group in 2022, the carbon footprint of commut- ing in the year decreased by 14% com- pared to 2019, a figure that also exceeds the 4% target set for 2022. e countries that have reduced it the most in this way, i.e. by reducing commuting, are It- aly (66%), Chile (66%), Argentina (53%), Germany (51%) and the US (45%). In 2022, the MAPFRE Group's energy consumption, linked to the energy con- sumption of buildings and the vehicle fleet, decreased by 12% compared to 2019, far exceeding the 2022 target of 3%. is decrease was due to the imple- mentation of hybrid work models, the optimization of workspaces, investment in energy efficiency, and upgrading of automobile fleets to more efficient ECO engines. Electricity consumption current- ly accounts for more than 70% of the Group's energy consumption. In 2022, total purchased electricity decreased by 16 GWh, which is 14% less than in 2019. In line with the above initiatives, MAPFRE in Malta will be installing solar panels at Middle Sea House, which will reduce its carbon footprint in Malta. MAPFRE reduces its global carbon footprint by 26% through use of renewables and sustainable mobility In 2022, the MAPFRE Group's energy consumption, linked to the energy consumption of buildings and the vehicle fleet, decreased by 12% compared to 2019

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