Independent auditor’s
report
To the Shareholders of Multitude Bank plc (formerly known as
Ferratum Bank plc)
Report on the audit of the financial
statements
In our opinion:
· The financial
statements give a true and fair view of the financial position of Multitude Bank plc
(formerly known as Ferratum Bank plc) (the Bank) as at 31 December 2022, and of the
Bank’s financial performance and cash flows for the year then ended in
accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (‘IFRSs’) as
adopted by the EU; and
· The financial
statements have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Maltese
Companies Act (Cap. 386) and the Maltese Banking Act (Cap. 371).
Our opinion is consistent with our
additional report to the Audit Committee.
What we have audited
Multitude Bank plc’s financial statements comprise:
· the statement of
financial position as at 31 December 2022;
· the statement of
comprehensive income for the year then ended;
· the statement of
changes in equity for the year then ended;
· the statement of
cash flows for the year then ended; and
· the notes to the
financial statements, which include significant accounting policies and other
explanatory information.
We conducted our audit in accordance with International
Standards on Auditing (ISAs). Our responsibilities under those standards are further
described in the Auditor’s Responsibilities for the Audit of the Financial
Statements section of our report.
We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is
sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.
Independence
We are independent of the Bank in accordance with the
International Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants
(including International Independence Standards) issued by the International Ethics
Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA Code) together with the ethical
requirements of the Accountancy Profession (Code of Ethics for Warrant Holders)
Directive issued in terms of the Accountancy Profession Act (Cap. 281) that are
relevant to our audit of the financial statements in Malta. We have fulfilled our
other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these Codes.
To the best of our knowledge and belief, we
declare that non-audit services that we have provided to the Bank are in accordance
with the applicable law and regulations in Malta and that we have not provided
non-audit services that are prohibited under Article 18A of the Accountancy
Profession Act (Cap. 281).
The non-audit services that we have
provided to the Bank, in the period from 1 January 2022 to 31 December 2022, are
disclosed in note 25 to the financial statements.
Overview
As part of designing our audit, we determined materiality
and assessed the risks of material misstatement in the financial statements. In
particular, we considered where the directors made subjective judgements; for
example, in respect of significant accounting estimates that involved making
assumptions and considering future events that are inherently uncertain. As in all of
our audits, we also addressed the risk of management override of internal controls,
including among other matters consideration of whether there was evidence of bias
that represented a risk of material misstatement due to fraud.
We tailored the scope of our audit in order to perform
sufficient work to enable us to provide an opinion on the financial statements as a
whole, taking into account the structure of the Bank, the accounting processes and
controls, and the industry in which the Bank operates.
Materiality
The scope of our audit was influenced by our application of
materiality. An audit is designed to obtain reasonable assurance whether the
financial statements are free from material misstatement. Misstatements may arise due
to fraud or error. They are considered material if individually or in aggregate, they
could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on
the basis of the financial statements.
Based on our professional judgement, we determined certain
quantitative thresholds for materiality, including the overall materiality for the
financial statements as a whole as set out in the table below. These, together with
qualitative considerations, helped us to determine the scope of our audit and the
nature, timing and extent of our audit procedures and to evaluate the effect of
misstatements, both individually and in aggregate on the financial statements as a
whole.
We agreed with the Audit Committee that we would report to
them misstatements identified during our audit above €55,000 as well as
misstatements below that amount that, in our view, warranted reporting for
qualitative reasons.
Key audit matters
Key audit matters are those matters that, in our professional
judgement, were of most significance in our audit of the financial statements of the
current period. These matters were addressed in the context of our audit of the
financial statements as a whole, and in forming our opinion thereon, and we do not
provide a separate opinion on these matters.
The directors are responsible for the other information. The
other information comprises the Directors’ report, the Statement of Compliance
with the Code of Principles of Good Corporate Governance, the Remuneration Statement,
the Five Year Summary, the Shareholder Register Information and the Additional
Regulatory Disclosures (but does not include the financial statements and our
auditor’s report thereon).
Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the
other information and we do not express any form of
assurance conclusion thereon except as explicitly stated within the Report on
other legal and regulatory requirements.
In connection with our audit of the financial statements,
our responsibility is to read the other information identified above and, in doing
so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the
financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the audit, or otherwise appears to
be materially misstated.
If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that
there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report
that fact. We have nothing to report in this regard.
Responsibilities of the directors and
those charged with governance for the financial statements
The directors are responsible for the preparation of
financial statements that give a true and fair view in accordance with IFRSs as
adopted by the EU and the requirements of the Maltese Companies Act (Cap. 386), and
for such internal control as the directors determine is necessary to enable the
preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether
due to fraud or error.
In preparing the financial statements, the directors are
responsible for assessing the Bank’s ability to continue as a going concern,
disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going
concern basis of accounting unless the directors either intend to liquidate the Bank
or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.
Those charged with governance are responsible for overseeing
the Bank’s financial reporting process.
Auditor’s responsibilities for the
audit of the financial statements
Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about
whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement,
whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor’s report that includes
our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance, but is not a
guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs will always detect a
material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and
are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably
be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these
financial statements.
As part of an audit in accordance with ISAs, we exercise
professional judgement and maintain professional scepticism throughout the audit. We
also:
· Identify and
assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to
fraud or error, design and perform audit procedures responsive to those risks, and
obtain audit evidence that is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our
opinion. The risk of not detecting a material misstatement resulting from fraud is
higher than for one resulting from error, as fraud may involve collusion, forgery,
intentional omissions, misrepresentations, or the override of internal control.
· Obtain an
understanding of internal control relevant to the audit in order to design audit
procedures that are appropriate in the circumstances, but not for the purpose of
expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the Bank’s internal control.
· Evaluate the
appropriateness of accounting policies used and the reasonableness of accounting
estimates and related disclosures made by the directors.
· Conclude on the
appropriateness of the directors’ use of the going concern basis of accounting
and, based on the audit evidence obtained, whether a material uncertainty exists
related to events or conditions that may cast significant doubt on the Bank’s
ability to continue as a going concern. If we conclude that a material uncertainty
exists, we are required to draw attention in our auditor’s report to the
related disclosures in the financial statements or, if such disclosures are
inadequate, to modify our opinion. Our conclusions are based on the audit evidence
obtained up to the date of our auditor’s report. However, future events or
conditions may cause the Bank to cease to continue as a going concern.
· Evaluate the
overall presentation, structure and content of the financial statements, including
the disclosures, and whether the financial statements represent the underlying
transactions and events in a manner that achieves fair presentation.
We communicate with those charged with governance regarding,
among other matters, the planned scope and timing of the audit and significant audit
findings, including any significant deficiencies in internal control that we identify
during our audit.
We also provide those charged with governance with a
statement that we have complied with relevant ethical requirements regarding
independence, and to communicate with them all relationships and other matters that
may reasonably be thought to bear on our independence, and where applicable, actions
taken to eliminate threats or safeguards applied.
From the matters communicated with those charged with
governance, we determine those matters that were of most significance in the audit of
the financial statements of the current period and are therefore the key audit
matters. We describe these matters in our auditor’s report unless law or
regulation precludes public disclosure about the matter or when, in extremely rare
circumstances, we determine that a matter should not be communicated in our report
because the adverse consequences of doing so would reasonably be expected to outweigh
the public interest benefits of such communication.
Report on other legal and regulatory
requirements
Report on compliance with the
requirements of the European Single Electronic Format Regulatory Technical Standard
(the “ESEF RTS”), by reference to Capital Markets Rule
5.55.6
We have undertaken a reasonable assurance
engagement in accordance with the requirements of Directive 6 issued by the
Accountancy Board in terms of the Accountancy Profession Act (Cap. 281) - the
Accountancy Profession (European Single Electronic Format) Assurance Directive
(“the ESEF Directive 6”) on the Annual Financial Report of Multitude Bank
plc for the year ended 31 December 2022, entirely prepared in a single electronic
reporting format.
Responsibilities of the
directors
The directors are responsible for the
preparation of the Annual Financial Report, including the financial statements, by
reference to Capital Markets Rule 5.56A, in accordance with the requirements of the
ESEF RTS.
Our responsibilities
Our responsibility is to obtain reasonable
assurance about whether the Annual Financial Report, including the financial
statements, complies in all material respects with the ESEF RTS based on the evidence
we have obtained. We conducted our reasonable assurance engagement in accordance with
the requirements of ESEF Directive 6.
Our procedures included:
· Obtaining an understanding of the entity's financial reporting process,
including the preparation of the Annual Financial Report in XHTML format.
· Examining whether the Annual Financial Report has been prepared in XHTML
format.
We believe that the evidence we have
obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our
opinion.
Opinion
In our opinion, the Annual Financial
Report for the year ended 31 December 2022 has been prepared in XHTML format in all
material respects.
Other reporting requirements
The Annual Report and Financial
Statements 2022 contains other areas required by legislation or regulation on
which we are required to report. The Directors are responsible for these other
areas.
The table below sets out these areas
presented within the Annual Financial Report, our related responsibilities and
reporting, in addition to our responsibilities and reporting reflected in the
Other information section of our report. Except as outlined in the table, we
have not provided an audit opinion or any form of assurance.
Other matter – use of this
report
Our report, including the opinions, has
been prepared for and only for the Bank’s shareholders as a body in accordance
with Article 179 of the Maltese Companies Act (Cap. 386) and for no other purpose. We
do not, in giving these opinions, accept or assume responsibility for any other
purpose or to any other person to whom this report is shown or into whose hands it
may come save where expressly agreed by our prior written consent.
We were first appointed as auditors of
the Bank on 9 May 2012. Our appointment has been renewed annually by shareholder
resolution representing a total period of uninterrupted engagement appointment of 11
years.
PricewaterhouseCoopers
78, Mill Street
Zone 5, Central Business District
Qormi
Malta
Stephen Mamo
Partner
29 March 2023
