Company: FRHC
Filing Date: 2025-06-13
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0000924805-25-000012
Chunk: 53

Company: Freedom Holding Corp.
Filing Date: 2025-06-13
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1
Chunk 53
---
 services and brokerage industries, in particular, remain highly competitive and are marked by rapid technological advancements, changing regulatory frameworks, and increasing customer demand for integrated digital solutions and global market access.

We compete with international, regional, and local brokerage, banking, and financial services firms, many of which offer a broader array of services, possess greater capitalization, have more extensive global infrastructure, and benefit from well-established brand recognition. However, we believe our focus on innovation, customer-centric technology, and regional market expertise gives us distinct competitive advantages.

In Kazakhstan, our primary competitors in the brokerage space remain Halyk Finance, BCC Invest, and First Heartland Securities. While these firms benefit from strong domestic reputations and relationships, our integration with global capital markets through direct access to U.S. and European exchanges - coupled with digital brokerage infrastructure - positions us as a leader in cross-border investment facilitation in Central Asia.

15

In the banking sector, Freedom Bank KZ continues to expand its footprint. Its main competitors include Halyk Bank, Kaspi Bank, and Bank CenterCredit. While our competitors maintain dominant positions in retail and SME banking, we differentiate ourselves through our investment-driven banking model, digital-first service delivery, and unique synergy between our banking and brokerage operations, offering customers seamless integration of financial services under one platform.

In the insurance sector, Freedom Life and Freedom Insurance, operate in Kazakhstan's competitive life and general insurance markets. Key life insurance competitors include Halyk-Life, Nomad Life, and European Insurance Company (EIC). In the non-life insurance segment, our main competitors are Eurasia Insurance Company, Kommesk-Omir, and Victoria Insurance Company. While these firms benefit from scale and long-standing market positions, we differentiate our offering through digital-first distribution, investment-linked insurance products, and integration with our banking and brokerage platforms.

In Europe, we compete with digital-first brokers such as eToro and Interactive Brokers. These firms offer scale, brand recognition, and user engagement through social trading (eToro) and broad market access (Interactive Brokers). Nonetheless, our European customers benefit from curated research, access to U.S. pre-IPO markets, and personalized service tailored to emerging market investors seeking to diversify internationally areas where we maintain a niche edge. In the United States, our competition includes boutique investment banks and capital markets firms such as Needham & Company, Craig-Hallum Capital Group, and Oppenheimer & Co. These institutions have longstanding customer bases and capital markets experience. However, we aim to distinguish