Independent practitioner’s assurance report to the Board of Directors of DFCC Bank PLC on the Sustainability reporting criteria presented in the Integrated Annual Report FY2023

Scope

We have been engaged by DFCC Bank PLC to perform a “limited assurance engagement,” as defined by Sri Lanka Standard on Assurance Engagements, here after referred to as the engagement, to report on DFCC Bank PLC’s Economic, Environment, Social and Governance (EESG) indicators (the “Subject Matter”) contained in DFCC Bank PLC’s (the “Entity’s”) Integrated Annual Report for the year ended 31 December 2023 (the “Report”).

Other than as described in the preceding paragraph, which sets out the scope of our engagement, we did not perform assurance procedures on the remaining information included in the Report, and accordingly, we do not express a conclusion on this information.

Criteria applied by DFCC Bank PLC

In preparing the Subject Matter, DFCC Bank PLC applied the following criteria (“Criteria”):

• The Global Reporting Initiative's (GRI) Sustainability Reporting Guidelines, publicly available at https://www.globalreporting.org

Such Criteria were specifically designed for the purpose of assisting you in determining whether Entity’s Economic, Environment, Social and Governance (EESG) indicators contained in the Entity’s Report is presented in accordance with the relevant criteria; As a result, the subject matter information may not be suitable for another purpose.

DFCC Bank PLC’s responsibilities

DFCC Bank PLC management is responsible for selecting the Criteria, and for presenting the Subject Matter in accordance with that Criteria, in all material respects. This responsibility includes establishing and maintaining internal controls, maintaining adequate records and making estimates that are relevant to the preparation of the subject matter, such that it is free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

Ernst & Young’s responsibilities

Our responsibility is to express a conclusion on the presentation of the Subject Matter based on the evidence we have obtained.

We conducted our engagement in accordance with the Sri Lanka Standard for Assurance Engagements Other Than Audits or Reviews of Historical Financial Information (SLSAE 3000 (Revised), and the terms of reference for this engagement as agreed with the DFCC Bank PLC on 24 November 2023. Those standards require that we plan and perform our engagement to express a conclusion on whether we are aware of any material modifications that need to be made to the Subject Matter in order for it to be in accordance with the Criteria, and to issue a report. The nature, timing, and extent of the procedures selected depend on our judgment, including an assessment of the risk of material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

We believe that the evidence obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our limited assurance conclusions.

Our independence and quality management

We have maintained our independence and confirm that we have met the requirements of the Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants issued by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka (CA Sri Lanka) and have the required competencies and experience to conduct this assurance engagement.

EY also applies International Standard on Quality Management 1, Quality Management for Firms that Perform Audits or Reviews of Financial Statements, or Other Assurance or Related Services engagements, which requires that we design, implement and operate a system of quality management including policies or procedures regarding compliance with ethical requirements, professional standards and applicable legal and regulatory requirements.

Description of procedures performed

Procedures performed in a limited assurance engagement vary in nature and timing from, and are less in extent than for a reasonable assurance engagement. Consequently, the level of assurance obtained in a limited assurance engagement is substantially lower than the assurance that would have been obtained had a reasonable assurance engagement been performed. Our procedures were designed to obtain a limited level of assurance on which to base our conclusion and do not provide all the evidence that would be required to provide a reasonable level of assurance.

Although we considered the effectiveness of management’s internal controls when determining the nature and extent of our procedures, our assurance engagement was not designed to provide assurance on internal controls. Our procedures did not include testing controls or performing procedures relating to checking aggregation or calculation of data within IT systems.

A limited assurance engagement consists of making enquiries, primarily of persons responsible for preparing the subject matter and related information and applying analytical and other appropriate procedures.

Our procedures included:

• Validated the information presented and checked the calculations performed by the organization through recalculation.
• Performed a comparison of the content given in the Report against the criteria given in the selected sustainability standards/frameworks.
• Conducted interviews with relevant organization’s personnel to understand the process for collection, analysis, aggregation and presentation of data. Interviews included selected key management personnel and relevant staff.
• Read the content presented in the Report for consistency with our overall knowledge obtained during the course of our assurance engagement and requested changes wherever required.
• Provided guidance, recommendations and feedback on the improvement of the sustainability reporting indicators to improve the presentation standard.

We also performed such other procedures as we considered necessary in the circumstances.

Emphasis of matter

Economic, Environment, Social management data/information are subject to inherent limitations given their nature and the methods used for determining, calculating and estimating such data. Such inherent limitations are common in Sri Lanka.

We also do not provide any assurance on the assumptions and achievability of prospective information presented in the Entity’s Report.

Conclusion

Based on our procedures and the evidence obtained, we are not aware of any material modifications that should be made to the information on the Economic, Environment, Social and Governance (EESG) contained in the Integrated Annual Report of DFCC Bank PLC for the year ended 31 December 2023, in order for it to be in accordance with the Criteria.

19 February 2024
Colombo