S&P Revises Outlook for Freedom Holding Corp. Subsidiaries to Positive
The outlook upgrade reflects substantial achievements in establishing consolidated risk management and compliance, and strengthening these functions
- Ratings affirmed for Freedom Finance JSC; Freedom Finance Europe Ltd.; Freedom Finance Global PLC and Freedom Bank Finance Kazakhstan at "B+/B" and for Freedom Holding Corp. at "B-."
- Outlook for Freedom Holding Corp. subsidiaries revised to positive from stable.
- Outlook for Freedom Holding Corp. maintained at stable.
Freedom Holding Corp. (the "Company") (NASDAQ:FRHC), a multi-national diversified financial services holding company with a presence through its subsidiaries in 22 countries, today commented on S&P Global Ratings ("S&P") report published on June 26, 2025.
The S&P report remarked that the ratings for Freedom Finance JSC, Freedom Finance Europe Ltd., Freedom Finance Global PLC, and Freedom Bank Kazakhstan JSC were affirmed at "B+/B" with the outlook revised to positive from stable, and the rating of Freedom Holding Corp. itself has been kept at "В-" with the stable outlook maintained.
As the rationale for its rating action, S&P highlighted the Company's substantial achievements in establishing consolidated risk management and compliance, as well as strengthening these functions in its financial subsidiaries.
"We believe that consolidation of risk management and compliance functions is vital for Freedom Group, which we consider to be relatively complex organizationally, with multiple financial and nonfinancial subsidiaries in various countries and with a track record of rapid growth, both organically and through acquisitions," according to S&P.
S&P also noted that it expects moderation of growth rates is likely to alleviate pressure on capital. "We still consider Freedom Group's earnings to be strong despite a reduction in fiscal 2025 due to a loss in the banking segment. The three-year average core earnings (March 2023-March 2025) to risk-weighted assets reduced to 2.6% compared with the 3.5% average for March 2022-March 2024, which is still high in an international context," S&P said. https://disclosure.spglobal.com/ratings/en/regulatory/article/-/view/type/HTML/id/3396738
S&P also recognized that the rapid growth of the Company in previous years has led to the Company maturing into a diversified global financial services group with an estimated five million customers, of which about 4.4 million are financial clients. SuperApp, the Company's mobile application, consolidates all essential financial services into one platform, allowing clients to manage finances without the need for multiple apps and services.
"We appreciate and respect the S&P diligence in reviewing the strength of Freedom Holding Corp. and our subsidiaries," said Timur Turlov, Freedom Holding Corp. Chairman and CEO. "Our rapid growth is attributable to an outstanding team of dedicated employees and our development of technology that enables our customers to handle multiple tasks in one easy-to-use App.
"Internally, we now have more than 160 people working in our compliance group, and more than 125 in risk management, as our business and its complexity continue to grow," Turlov added.
S&P can raise its ratings on the operating subsidiaries over the next 12 months if it concludes that risk management and compliance continue to strengthen, and if the Company maintains a moderate risk appetite with regard to its securities portfolio and growth of customer operations while the Company's capitalization (as measured by S&P's RAC ratio) remains above 10%, and the Company recovers profitability and continues its targeted growth strategy.
About Freedom Holding Corp.
Freedom Holding Corp., a Nevada corporation, is a diversified financial services holding company conducting retail securities brokerage, investment research, investment counseling, securities trading, investment banking and underwriting services, mortgages, insurance, and consumer banking through its subsidiaries, operating under the name Freedom Finance in Europe and Central Asia, and Freedom Capital Markets in the United States. Through its subsidiaries, Freedom Holding Corp. employs more than 8,700 people and is a professional participant in the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange, the Astana International Exchange, the Republican Stock Exchange of Tashkent, International Trading System Limited, Armenia Stock Exchange, Kyrgyz Stock Exchange, the Uzbek Republican Currency Exchange and is a member of the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq Stock Exchange.
Freedom Holding Corp.'s common shares are registered under the United States Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and are traded under the symbol FRHC on the Nasdaq Capital Market, operated by Nasdaq, Inc. The Company has its main market of operations in Kazakhstan and has operations through its subsidiaries in 22 countries.
To learn more about Freedom Holding Corp., visit www.freedomholdingcorp.com.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This release contains "forward-looking" statements within the meaning of section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. All forward-looking statements are subject to uncertainty and changes in circumstances. In some cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "expect," "new," "plan," "seek," and "will," or the negative of such terms or other comparable terminology and include statements relating to our plans, intensions and expectations including our plans to enter the telecommunications market, our expectations with respect to 2026 and other non-historical statements. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future results or performance and involve risks, assumptions, and uncertainties that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from the events or results described in, or anticipated by, the forward-looking statements. Factors that could materially affect such forward-looking statements include economic, business, and regulatory risks and other factors including those identified in the Company's periodic and current reports filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. All forward-looking statements are made only as of the date of this release and the Company assumes no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances. Readers should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250627920227/en/
Ramina Fakhrutdinova (KZ)
Public Relations
Freedom Finance JSC
+7 777 377 8868
[email protected]
Natalia Kharlashina
Public Relations
Freedom Finance Global
+7 701 364 1454
[email protected]
Media Contact for Freedom US Markets
Deborah Kostroun, Zito Partners
[email protected]
+1 201-403-8158