Social responsibility for our employees

Sustainability is part of the Group-wide business strategy. Sustainability targets are regularly included in the annual target agreements with the IBB Group’s managers and executive management. Target achievement is determined by the respective supervisory body or the respective manager. Target agreements therefore have an important role to play in the achievement of corporate goals.

The objectives, contents and procedures are documented in a service agreement at IBB.

The employees of the IBB Group are entitled to a company pension scheme. This provision is independent of the employee’s position in the company. The members of IBB’s Executive Board do not receive a pension.

Over the last three years, up to and including September 2025, there have been no redundancies or job reductions in the IBB Group. This is evidenced by the stable number of employees in recent years (see Sustainability Balance Sheet ). IBB has rules for calculating severance payments for staff leaving the company.

In addition, staffing plans are available for the following years, which clearly show that no redundancies are expected in the next four years. Any adjustments to staffing requirements can be offset due to the age structure of the workforce.

Temporary employment

IBB’s staffing requirements are determined by decisions made by the Executive Board and reflected in a full-time equivalent (FTE) staffing plan. Temporary staffing requirements of more than one year are covered by temporary employment contracts in the case of external appointments.

The non-discriminatory principles of the remuneration systems and rules for remuneration changes at IBB apply equally to all employees. No distinction is made with regard to temporary employment.

Non-regular employment relationships

Service and consulting companies are contracted for specific tasks by experts in the fields of IT consulting and services, auditing and tax auditing as well as for services related to corporate communications.

In 2025, 66.3 per cent of employees (1,072) were employed directly by IBB Group companies. Of these, 86.3 per cent were permanently employed and 13.7 per cent had fixed-term employment contracts. In 2025, there were no risks or controversies regarding job security and restructuring.

In addition, there were other non-direct employees who temporarily supported the IBB Group in regular operations and during so-called peak coverage. Regular operations cover topics such as canteen operations, building and room cleaning, facility management, security, company doctor and IT services. Peak coverage mainly involves IT services.

People with non-regular employment contracts are not contractually bound to IBB, which is why IBB is not responsible for verifying equal treatment in terms of remuneration and the provision of benefits, the right to permanent employment after a certain period of time and priority rights in the case of permanent employment.

The various different working models offer a considerable degree of flexibility with regard to working hours. The IBB Group enables each employee to work at the capacity that suits them best. Employees with families as well as employees on professional qualification programmes, for instance, at universities, benefit from the time sovereignty offered by flexible working models.

Mobile working

Mobile working offers organisational and time flexibility in the IBB Group. This means that, in principle, all employees can work from home or at other locations within Germany. In 2025, 1,036 employees took advantage of this offer, corresponding to a rate of 96.6 per cent.

At IBB, the house-wide framework for mobile working totals up to 60 per cent of the employee’s working hours. The organisational units determine the specific implementation of the framework. In principle, mobile working enables all employees to organise their work flexibly and independently of location according to their preferences while taking into account the requirements of their work tasks and team cohesion. Training in data protection, information security and ergonomics in mobile working is a mandatory part of personal onboarding for all new employees.

Furthermore, a service agreement was concluded in 2025 to create the possibility of temporary mobile working abroad (“workation”).

Flex Desk

As part of the expansion of mobile working, the IBB Group’s space utilisation scheme was reorganised to meet demand. This move led to a desk reduction of 20 per cent and the aim is to achieve a more environmentally friendly workplace design in the long term, to leverage efficiency potential by saving office space and creatively redesign or reorganise the office concept and daily work routines in the direction of New Work.

Long-Term account

The long-term account gives all employees greater flexibility when it comes to organising their individual working hours at IBB. The framework for this is set out in a service agreement. In 2025, 98 employees took advantage of this opportunity to contribute time to their long-term account, e.g. overtime, or to convert salary components into time credits, in some cases several times. Employees have very different reasons for using the long-term account.

Take parental leave, stay in touch and return to work

At the IBB Group, it goes without saying that all employees can take parental leave in line with statutory and collectively agreed options, regardless of gender, marital status or individual circumstances. This applies explicitly to both birthing and non-birthing parents.

It is just as natural for an employee to return to their previous job and position after parental leave. In 2024, 25 employees made use of this, 12 women and 13 men, i.e. 13 non-birthing parents. Of this group, 19 employees returned from parental leave in the same year, seven women and 12 men. In 2025, 24 employees made use of this, 13 women and 11 men, i.e. 11 non-birthing parents. Of this group, 21 employees returned from parental leave in the same year, nine women and 12 men. It is important for us to stay in contact. Before maternity leave or parental leave begins, a counselling meeting is held with expectant parents both within IBB and at IBT. And as part of a mentoring model, employees are kept up to date with the latest information in the company during their parental leave.

Childcare

At IBB, an external Employee Assistance Programme, which is available to all employees, is on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week to help employees find childminders and kindergarten places.

Providing children with a firsthand glimpse into their parents’ workplace

In July 2025, the 9th IBB Children’s Activity Day was held for all children of IBB employees.

An estimated 10 to 15 per cent of the IBB Group’s employees are faced with the challenge of reconciling professional demands with caregiving responsibilities. The IBB Group complies 100 per cent with all legal requirements to support employees with private caregiving obligations (e.g. Caregiver Leave Act (Pflegezeitgesetz), employee rights in the event of a child’s illness).

In addition to legal requirements, the IBB Group offers company measures such as flexible working models, the use of long-term account balances, the opportunity to reduce overtime and individual unpaid leave in personal emergencies. These measures give employees greater control over their time.

A “Caregiving” checklist provides a step-by-step guide and bundles tools, tips and support services for organising caregiving responsibilities. This checklist is a guide that is available to all employees. In addition, a specially qualified company caregiving adviser supports and guides employees in acute or long-term care situations, providing mediation and advice. In addition, an average of eight to ten caregiving employees meet every three months for a moderated discussion to exchange experiences.

The external Employee Assistance Programme is available to all IBB employees also in relation to balancing working and caregiving. The programme provides services to help employees to research and find care facilities and available care home places, for example. In 2025, there were no risks or controversies with a view to balancing work and caregiving.

Setting objectives for professional development, analysis of professional development needs as well as planning

With a view to the transformation underway in terms of demographics, digitalisation, sustainability and the labour market, the IBB Group promotes lifelong learning within the framework of professional development. The aim is to secure and expand the skills of all employees (including part-time staff). This forms an important element of the functional HR strategy.

A skills model that includes the relevant facets for leadership, methodological and social skills supports IBB’s promotion and complete professional development cycle from needs assessment to training evaluation. The organisational units have a budget for funding seminars. Managers agree in the annual ‘BIALOG’ staff appraisal on whether and which concrete specific learning goals are to be achieved within the next 12 months. To this end, they agree on learning activities, in particular internal and external seminars. In the staff appraisal the following year, the participants review the degree to which the target was achieved. At company level, qualification targets were also set for 2025 and backed by measures. In addition, new corporate values have been identified and used as a basis for developing a new management mission statement.

Monitoring of professional development measures and follow-up

After each seminar, IBB’s HR development team conducts follow-up discussions with the respective trainer and separately with one to four seminar participants. Quantitative evaluations of the professional development activities are carried out annually with the help of professional development statistics (topics, number of participants, external/internal seminars). All managers are also involved in budget planning and the needs assessment, as they are responsible for the training budget in their area of responsibility. Managers and employees are responsible for ensuring the learning success of training measures. They discuss how to ensure that the learning results of seminars are transferred to everyday work. These responsibilities are defined as a working process. In addition, recommendations for the transfer of learning results are given in training sessions at the end of the event and in some cases agreed with the participants. The HR development team, in cooperation with the trainers, ensures this when planning seminar schedules. Outcome and implementation follow-ups are always initiated and managed by the HR development team when the training topic calls for this. These include, for instance, hands-on counselling by peers after seminars on addiction prevention and support by the caregiving adviser for employees who have participated in the short seminars on health topics.

The annual BIALOG staff dialogue is a central element of personnel development at IBB. It promotes future-orientated cooperation between managers and employees and offers space for exchange on what both sides need in order to successfully shape upcoming goals, challenges and changes together.

The focus is not on past performance evaluation, but on a solution-orientated dialogue regarding tasks, contributions to the team, responsibilities, development opportunities and the creation of a healthy working environment. The talks help both employees to reflect on their role, their contribution and their development potential, and managers to recognise suitable measures and support requirements.

The BIALOG topics include, for instance:

• Review of achievements and prior-year agreements
• Current and new tasks as well as team targets
• Role in the team, appreciation and equality
• Leeway for action, ideas and personal responsibility
• Learning, development and potential
• Work tools, workload and work-life balance

If an employee is far from their target remuneration, the induction plan instrument is used to close the gap between current skills and the requirements of the job profile. This is addressed in the BIALOG meeting, among other things, but the induction plan is an independent instrument.

The management relationship has been proven to influence the performance, health and job satisfaction of employees. A wide variety of demands are placed on managers. They have to emphasise the meaning of the work, identify areas for action, point out possible solutions, hold discussions at eye level, provide information in good time, recognise potential for further training and much more — all prerequisites for a good and constructive working atmosphere.

In 2017/2018, all IBB teams conducted a solution-orientated management dialogue for the first time to help managers determine what kind of leadership their teams need from them. The practice of anonymous management feedback is thus finally over for IBB. A service agreement on this topic was concluded at IBB.

In order to build up its own junior staff, IBB continuously trains young people in cooperative studies and IHK training programmes. We rely on long-term strategic cooperations and partnerships. The cooperative studies programme has been offered since 1996 in cooperation with the HWR Berlin, the Berlin School of Economics and Law (Cooperative Studies department). At institutional or personal level, IBB is represented in the committees of the HWR Berlin, e.g. in the Business & Technology Commissions, in the Cooperative Studies Commission, the Examination Commission and also on the Board of Trustees of the HWR Berlin, and is a paying member of the HWR Berlin support association “pro dual e. V.”

In order to improve and ensure the quality and awareness of cooperative study programmes throughout Germany, IBB is also active on the advisory board of Verband Duales Hochschulstudium Deutschland e. V.

The theory partners of the cooperative vocational training programme are Oberstufenzentrum Banken, Immobilien und Versicherungen (OSZ BIV) and Oberstufenzentrum Informations- und Medizintechnik (OSZ IMT).

Since 2005, Berliner Volksbank e.G. has been the partner for practical training as a bank clerk.

IBB is involved in initiatives to boost the attractiveness of STEM professions for girls and young women, such as Girls’Day and EnterTechnik dual . IBB is also involved in school internships and the IHK internship week and cooperates in career guidance schemes at schools in Berlin where, for example, trainees and cooperative students give presentations at their own schools to report on their vocational training and studies. In addition to demonstrating social commitment, this also services as a direct form of trainee recruitment.

In the 2025 training year, we enabled young people to enter (first-time) vocational training at the same high level in seven training occupations.

In the 2025 reporting year, 16 trainees and 30 cooperative students were in training at IBB as at 31 December 2025.

IBB is currently training IT specialists in data and process analysis (four trainees) and system integration (two trainees) as well as ten future bank clerks. There are currently 15 students enrolled in the cooperative study programme in “Banking”, six in “Real Estate Management”, six in “Business Information Systems” and three in “Information Technology”. The aim in each case is to successfully complete the vocational training or cooperative study programme and then join IBB as an employee.

In 2025, as in previous years, induction days were also held for the new, young recruits. The People & Culture department and other employees prepared them for their training, ensuring they got off to a good start. The multi-day team development event with all trainees and cooperative students was also held once again. An important element of this is the regular exchange formats between trainees/cooperative students and trainers as well as training officers in the departments. The standards have been defined together with the People & Culture department in order to strengthen professional training in the organisational units. Onboarding events, training for training officers and regular dialogue formats are held to ensure the quality of training.

In 2023, IBB defined the principle of permanent employment as part of the revision of the hiring process after training. The provisions of the IBB procedure therefore go beyond the provisions of the collective bargaining agreement for junior staff of public banks. In 2025, all junior staff, including four trainees and eight cooperative students, who had successfully completed their training, were directly offered permanent positions at IBB. The principle of permanent employment in accordance with the collective bargaining agreement for junior staff and IBB's internal hiring procedure was fully utilised for the first time.

Targets are agreed exclusively with managers at the first and second management levels. The target agreement meeting includes both the assessment of target achievement in the previous financial year and the setting of new targets for the year ahead.

The basis for this is the shared responsibility of all managers for achieving the bank’s goals and strengthening its mission statement. Only measurable performance targets are agreed. These are orientated towards specifically definable results. A distinction is made between quantitative and qualitative targets.

The target agreements focus on the following topics:

• Advancement of women
• Digitalisation
• Demographic management
• Increased efficiency
• Sustainability

The IBB Group promotes lifelong learning as part of its professional development programme in order to secure and expand the skills of its employees. This applies to all employees (including part-time employees, etc.) who receive training according to their individual needs. The programme supports the development of skills in the relevant facets of leadership, methods and social interaction. The organisational units have their own budget for funding seminars. The IBB Group invested an average of 4.36 professional development days per employee in 2025. New internal professional development programmes are identified in line with strategic topics. In 2025, these included digitalisation, sustainability, diversity and regulation. These programmes are offered for individual positions that require training programmes for which certificates are issued.

The “L3 Scholarship”, a programme to promote lifelong learning at IBB, offers employees support services for in-service, quality-assured professional development measures that go beyond the seminars on offer and are in the bank’s interest in a broader sense. In 2025, eleven employees took part in this qualification programme. The scholarship can also be used to support the completion of degree programmes. IBB also promotes the acquisition of qualifications, for example through flexible working hours.

Against the backdrop of demographic change, scenarios are regularly developed with regard to staffing levels and requirements, including age structure analyses. In 2025, the measures adopted included early succession and re-staffing planning as well as permanent employment of trainees and cooperative students. At IBB, we cooperate with companies that offer qualification services in the field of management (e.g. agility, new work, strategy, ESG, self-organisation of teams) to support the leadership development of our managers.

In 2025, IBB again offered navigation coaching, development plans and leadership seminars for new managers. Mentoring programmes were also provided in 2025. All programmes will be continued in 2026 and supplemented with new innovative topics.

Most of the IBB Group’s employees work in offices with an open-plan concept and plenty of light. The working environment for all employees features fully ergonomically designed workstations with vertically adjustable desks, at least two screens and headsets. Meeting rooms, a canteen and a café in the foyer are additional places where employees can meet and talk.

In 2023, the atrium was redesigned to provide modern, innovative meeting areas. These areas not only support new work concepts, such as New Work, but also promote collaboration, knowledge sharing and networking among employees while offering a range of different opportunities for employees and visitors to exchange ideas. Various closed meeting rooms of different sizes are available for confidential discussions.

The IBB Group is particularly committed to enabling people with limited mobility to participate in working life. Automatic door openers and an evacuation chair for people with walking disabilities have been installed in relevant areas of the building to improve accessibility in everyday working life for people with limited mobility.

Addiction and psychosocial crises occur in every social environment, and the employees of the IBB Group are no exception.

IBB takes a responsible stance in prevention, but also in providing assistance in the event of addiction and psychosocial crises. This is based on IBB’s duty of care for employees and the need to guarantee the quality of work performance.

For this reason, a service agreement on “Prevention and intervention in the event of anomalies caused by addiction, substance abuse and psychosocial crises” came into force at IBB in 2019. A “Non-smoker protection” service agreement has also been in place since 2019. All new managers are trained for their role in the field of addiction and psychosocial crises, and two peer counsellors are available to them and IBB employees for questions and confidential discussions in this regard. IBB’s Employee Assistance Programme provides support in crisis situations. This counselling is provided exclusively by qualified psychologists. The counselling service is available around the clock in an emergency.

There are plans to offer training in Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) in 2026.

IBB’s Occupational Safety Committee is made up of two representatives from the People & Culture department, two members of the Staff Council, the representative for severely disabled employees, the women’s representative, the safety officer, the external company doctor and an external occupational safety specialist. The Occupational Safety Committee implements measures that are based on statutory health and safety regulations and are beneficial to the health and safety of all employees. The Occupational Safety Committee met regularly.

In 2025, the IBB Group complied with all statutory occupational health and safety requirements.

All IBB managers instructed their team members in occupational safety topics on site in 2025. The managers were provided with two instruction videos (“What to do in emergencies/building evacuation” and “Practical guide for instruction by managers”). Due to mobile working and the associated limited availability of first aiders and fire safety assistants, an extensive professional development and training campaign was conducted in 2025 to train a total of 119 first aiders and 142 fire safety assistants.

Charging points are available for the pool of electric vehicles used by the IBB Group and parked in the bank’s own underground car park. In order to have an overview of all safety aspects in the event of a fire and to ensure the necessary measures for the safety of employees, consultations were held with Berlin’s fire brigade and organisational measures for fire protection were introduced.

Four generations work together in the IBB Group and we benefit from this diversity. Lifecycle-orientated HR policy aims to offer attractive working conditions for all age groups and to create the framework for maintaining and expanding individual performance and motivation.

Shaping demographic change is a key element of IBB’s HR strategy. In 2025, the measures adopted included early succession and re-staffing planning as well as permanent employment of trainees and cooperative students.

Employees with disabilities in the IBB Group are supported by their managers in line with their specific needs. At IBB, the interests of employees are also represented by advisory or mediatory services by IBB’s representative body for severely disabled persons; staff from the People & Culture department also provide support as needed.

4.7 per cent of employees in the IBB Group were severely disabled or treated as being equivalent to severely disabled persons in 2025.

Since 2006, IBB has been actively and systematically promoting women’s careers, equal representation in management positions and equal pay.

Thanks to our efforts and plans for the advancement of women, we have made significant progress. Gender parity at department management level, the principle of equal pay for equal work and a supportive environment that paves the way for women in particular to take up management positions are just some of our successes.

With our current women’s promotion plan, we want to achieve gender parity at all hierarchical levels, including our first management level, as well as divisional and staff management level. We are also striving for improvements in areas where we have not yet achieved the desired results, such as the proportion of women in STEM occupations. By implementing this plan, we are reaffirming our commitment to further reducing structural barriers and creating a workplace where the diversity of all genders is valued. IBT, IBB Ventures and IBC also have plans in place to promote women.

IBB’s current 2024-2029 plan for the advancement of women sets out the objectives and describes the measures we intend to take to continue the success story of promoting women.

In internal and external communications, the IBB Group uses gender-appropriate language to ensure that all genders are addressed and represented.

IBB is aware that equal participation in society requires outreach and acceptance efforts to promote the subject of gender identity and sexual orientation. An expert presentation took place on this topic to sensitise and raise awareness of the challenges and concerns of the LGBTQIA community.

This year, IBB once again took part in Christopher Street Day in Berlin, demonstrating visibility at a corporate and social level in favour of acceptance and tolerance.