Bilal Sujubashi, Chief Executive Officer in Halkbank AD Skopje

Dear shareholders, customers, dear colleagues, friends,

The past year 2023, although again filled with a series of uncertainties at the global level, compared to 2022, the economic flows began to stabilize slowly.

Although the monetary policy of the central banks continued to be tightened in order to reduce inflation, and the National Bank of RNM followed the same steps, however, the banking sector as a whole and in times of crisis confirmed its stability and reliability and continued to be a support for the country's economy.

Halkbank delivered positive results in every domain even in these conditions, with interest growth and tight operating conditions. Our strategy to constantly offer a variety of products on the market according to the demands and needs of customers and on the best terms, is proving to be the best way to create value for everyone - for the state, shareholders, employees and customers.

At the end of December, we noticed a significant result in terms of the deposit base, which exceeded one billion euros, of which 1,020 million euros are deposits of clients - legal and natural persons, which increased compared to the same period last year by 171 million euros. At the same time, the deposits of the corporate sector have increased by 80 million euros, and those of the population - by as much as 90 million euros. The reason for this growth in the part of companies is probably the "retention" of higher costs due to the crisis that brings uncertainty, while in the segment of the population it is due to the attractive deposit products, with attractive interest rates, that we offered to the market.

In terms of lending, and in conditions of a tight monetary policy, we have an increase of over 95 million euros. This is mostly due to the corporate sector, where we had an increase in lending amounting to almost 90 million euros. When we talk about legal entities, there is a growth in lending for all sizes of companies. The largest, of course, is in the segment of large companies, but there is also an increase in medium, small and micro companies. Among the population, we have a decrease in lending, which is perhaps expected considering the measures and goals of the central bank to reduce inflation.

Our assets with the calculated increase now already amount to 1.6 billion euros. Our net profit, as of December 2023, amounts to 20.3 million euros. All this confirms the fact that Halkbank is a strong brand and a reliable and stable bank.

Our business imperative in the past year has been paying particular attention to corporate social responsibility as a way to help individuals and the community as a whole. From there, we supported a variety of social activities in the field of sports, culture, education, support for the youngest in the field of education and training, paying attention to the older generation and more. We are especially proud of our "green agenda" and recognition of Halkbank as an eco-oriented bank that helps increase the forest fund in North Macedonia, encourage healthy lifestyles and protect nature.

And in 2023, we made an effort to deliver products in accordance with the needs of the market, but also innovative products as part of our strategy to be leaders in the introduction of products based on new technologies and digitalization. That's why we continued to introduce new products and services that bring new user experience and satisfaction to our current and future customers. This principle guides all our activities and is applied in our daily engagements.

In the coming period, we will continue to build our brand and achieve the goal of being one of the largest banks in the country and the first choice of customers. We will achieve this by offering new, innovative services with the best conditions on the market and by monitoring and implementing new technologies that develop at an unstoppable pace and open many new opportunities. We will continue to be an example of socially responsible action with our support of social activities. Here, of course, a special place will be occupied by our eco activities, whose main goal is to make a direct contribution in the direction of increasing greenery and protecting nature, but also raising awareness of the need for all individuals and stakeholders in the damage to take care of the natural environment. Within those frameworks, as we have already announced, we will realize a large five-year donation of 1,000,000 seedlings for afforestation of the country in regions where it is needed. We will achieve all that with our employees who are the basis of our success.

With respect,
Bilal Sujubashi, Chief Executive Officer in Halkbank AD Skopje