NOTE 1 - DESCRIPTION OF BUSINESS

Overview

Freedom Holding Corp. (the “Company” or “FRHC”) is a corporation organized in the United States under the laws of the State of Nevada that through its operating subsidiaries provides financial services including retail securities brokerage, research, investment counseling, securities trading, market making, retail banking, corporate investment banking and underwriting services in Eurasia. The Company is headquartered in Almaty, Kazakhstan, with supporting administrative office locations in Russia, Cyprus and the United States. The Company has retail locations in Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan and Germany. The Company also owns an agency only institutional broker dealer registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). The Company’s common stock trades on the Nasdaq Capital Market.

The Company owns directly, or through subsidiaries, the following companies:

The Company also owns a 32.88% interest in LLC Freedom Finance Ukraine, a Kiev, Ukraine-based broker-dealer (“Freedom UA”). The remaining 67.12% interest in Freedom UA is owned by Askar Tashtitov, the Company’s president. The Company has entered into a series of contractual arrangements with Freedom UA and Mr. Tashtitov, including a consulting services agreement, an operating agreement and an option agreement. Because such agreements obligate the Company to guarantee the performance of all Freedom UA obligations and provide Freedom UA sufficient funding to cover all Freedom UA operating losses and net capital requirements, enable the Company to receive 90% of the net profits of Freedom UA after tax, and require the Company to provide Freedom UA the management competence, operational support, and ongoing access to the Company’s significant assets, necessary technology resources and expertise to conduct the business of Freedom UA, the Company accounts for Freedom UA as a variable interest entity (“VIE”) under the accounting standards of the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”). Accordingly, the financial statements of Freedom UA are consolidated into the financial statements of the Company.

In July 2020 the Company completed the acquisition of Zerich Capital Management (“Zerich”). Zerich commenced business in 1995 and is one of the oldest securities brokerage firms in Russia, ranking as the 19th largest brokerage house in Russia in terms of clients. The acquisition of Zerich allowed the Company to enhance its securities brokerage services in Russia and to expand its client base. In December 2020 Zerich was merged into Freedom RU and its separate legal existence terminated. In connection with the merger, the assets and liabilities of Zerich were transferred to Freedom RU.

The Company’s subsidiaries are participants on the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE), Astana Stock Exchange (AIX), Moscow Exchange (MOEX), Saint-Petersburg Exchange (SPBX), the Ukrainian Exchange (UX), the Republican Stock Exchange of Tashkent (UZSE) and the Uzbek Republican Currency Exchange (UZCE) and members of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and Nasdaq Stock Exchange (Nasdaq). Freedom EU serves to provide the Company’s clients with operations support and access to the investment opportunities, relative stability, and integrity of the U.S. and European securities markets.

Unless otherwise specifically indicated or as is otherwise contextually required, FRHC, Freedom RU, Freedom Bank RU, Freedom KZ, Freedom Global, Freedom Bank KZ, Freedom EU, Freedom GE, Freedom UZ, PrimeEx, Freedom Technologies, Freedom AZ, FFIN and Freedom UA are collectively referred to herein as the “Company”.