Accessibility Progress Report | National Bank 2025 progress report on accessibility PDF version 2025 progress report on accessibility [PDF - 352.2 KB] 2025 progress report on accessibility (large character format) [PDF - 393KB] Audio version 2025 progress report on accessibility [MP3 - 54,8 MB] Web version 1. Our commitment to accessibility 2. General information 2.1 About National Bank 2.2 About accessibility 2.3 Contact us 3. Progress achieved 4. Priority areas 4.1 Employment 4.2 Design and delivery of programs and services 4.3 Built environment 4.4 Information and communication technologies (ICT) 4.5 Communications other than ICT 4.6 Procurement of goods, services and facilities 4.7 Transportation 5. Lessons learned and challenges 6. Consultations 7. Feedback 1. Our commitment to accessibility National Bank is fully committed to advancing accessibility and improving its practices. To that end, the Bank plans to: Continue to develop its culture of inclusion and diversity and equity. Maintain its zero-tolerance policy on discrimination and keep raising awareness about this topic. Continue to learn about accessibility. Continue to raise awareness about accessibility standards throughout the organization. Include accessibility standards in its new initiatives. This progress report reflects our efforts to make the Bank more accessible for employees, clients and the general public. As such, we are focusing on four target components to enhance our progress in terms of accessibility: Corporate culture: Encourage buy-in and promote an inclusive, non-discriminatory culture within our organization by fostering awareness of accessibility issues, knowledge of the barriers encountered and understanding of impacts. Training: Increase knowledge of accessibility across the organization to improve our employees’ responsiveness and reflexes while raising awareness about prejudice and negative bias. Governance: To facilitate the early detection of possible issues, monitor the evolution of our practices, identify the needs of our clients and employees and ensure the visibility of our accessibility initiatives, various governance mechanisms for inclusion and accessibility are in place and will be maintained. Action plans: Each of the different areas have a plan to improve accessibility. Top ↑ 2. General information 2.1 About National Bank National Bank is a bank on a human scale that stands out for its courage, entrepreneurial culture and passion for people. Our mission is to have a positive impact on people’s lives by building lasting relationships with our clients, our employees and the communities we serve. National Bank has made a clear commitment to helping clients, employees and the community power their ideas and achieve their ambitions. As such, we’re always working to provide a positive experience and ensure our products and services are simple, inclusive and accessible. We also strive to improve the work environment and working conditions for our teams. Our mission is aligned with our continued efforts to drive social and economic development. In response to changing trends in the banking industry, we’ve adopted a people-first approach that will help us achieve our objectives and boost the efficiency of our collaboration with society. In 2025, National Bank acquired Canadian Western Bank (CWB) to provide a better banking choice for all Canadians and Canadian businesses. This report now monitors the CWB action plan features as well. Top ↑ 2.2 About accessibility  The Accessible Canada Act (the “Act”) came into force on July 11, 2019. The purpose of the Act is to make Canada barrier-free by 2040. The Act provides that federally regulated organizations, including financial institutions, must identify, remove and prevent barriers to accessibility in Canada. Under the Act, National Bank must comply with the following requirements: Publish a three-year accessibility plan by June 1, 2023; this plan must detail the steps taken to remove and prevent barriers to accessibility. Publish an annual progress report, on the anniversary date of the accessibility plan, on the implementation of the measures set out in the plan. Establish a feedback process that allows our clients, employees and others to submit comments or suggestions about the Bank’s accessibility plan and barriers encountered. Our commitment to improving our accessibility practices is reflected in this progress report, which specifies how we will gradually remove barriers by focusing on the following seven areas: Employment Design and delivery of programs and services Built environment Information and communication technologies (ICT) Communications other than ICT Procurement of goods, services and facilities Transportation Top ↑ 2.3 Contact us To help us improve the accessibility of our products and services or share feedback and suggestions on the implementation of our 2023-2026 accessibility plan or our 2024 accessibility report, contact us: By submitting a request via the following link: https://www.nbc.ca/forms/contact/contact-us.html By telephone: 1-888-300-9004 By email: [email protected] By mail: write to your nearest branch To obtain the accessibility plan, the accessibility report or the description of the feedback process in another format, such as large print, braille or audio, contact us: By phone, email or mail: contact your nearest branch The Senior Manager – Voice of the Client and all Bank representatives receiving your comments and suggestions are responsible for accessibility within the Bank. You can submit comments and suggestions anonymously. For all feedback received, other than anonymous feedback, an acknowledgment of receipt will be provided to you within a reasonable time via the same communication channel you used to contact us. If you are an employee of the Bank, you can use the feedback process for our clients and the general public or the internal feedback process. The internal feedback process can be used via your preferred communication channel (telephone, email or mail). The different feedback channels are described on the employee platform intended for this purpose You can also make an anonymous suggestion or comment by contacting the Employee Ombudsman’s Office. An acknowledgement of receipt will be provided to you within a reasonable time. Top ↑ 3. Progress achieved The Bank’s 2023-2026 Accessibility Plan contained 14 objectives, each with its own rollout and implementation schedule: 10 short-term priorities to be rolled out within 12 months 14 medium-term priorities to be rolled out within 1 to 3 years 4 long-term priorities to be rolled out within 3 to 5 years 16 priorities to be rolled out on an ongoing basis In 2025, 5 priorities have been added. Since filing the 2023-2026 plan, the Bank has continued to advance in terms of accessibility. It has delivered initiatives to remove barriers for persons with disabilities. In accordance with its strategic accessibility plan, the initiatives prioritized by the Bank have focused on corporate culture, training and governance. For example: Enhancing our training and raising awareness about the challenges experienced by persons with disabilities. Increasing the visibility of accessibility challenges and the available tools.  Developing governance in terms of operational accessibility. Improving the consultation process. Improving and communicating the process of accommodating persons with disabilities. Top ↑ 4. Priority areas 4.1 Area: Employment Under the Bank’s 2023-2026 Accessibility Plan, we set three goals for removing barriers to accessibility in terms of employment. Here is a description of those goals and the progress achieved: Goal 1 — Provide an inclusive workplace that respects individual differences and where each person can develop their full potential by fostering a culture of compliance with accessibility standards. # Priority Progress Details Time frame 1 Develop a Reference Handbook for Content Creation to ensure accessibility 2024 delivery Priority handled under Area 4.5 – Communications Short term 2 Continue adapting our policies and procedures In progress In 2024: Delivery of the new accommodation policy which aims to simplify accommodation requests from Bank employees. Tools made available to managers to facilitate conversation. Creation of a management clinic on accommodations for employees with disabilities, which aims to train managers and raise awareness of various types of disabilities. Self-identification process adjusted to: Enhance the visibility of the various diversity segments, including persons with disabilities. Review the definition of persons with disabilities. Raise awareness of the importance of self-identification. These initiatives helped increase the representation of persons with disabilities at the Bank to 4.1% as at January 31, 2024. In 2025: Clarification and improvement of the accommodation procedure based on feedback Addition of the accommodation procedure in communications to employees returning from disability leave Progressive implementation of the management clinic (2 out of 8 business lines) As a result of these initiatives, the representation rate of persons with disabilities increased to 5% in March 2025 Ongoing 3 Optimize and promote the use of critical internal feedback tools to encourage ongoing feedback Completed  In 2024: Feedback procedure delivered, rolled out and integrated into the ongoing activities of the Employee Experience Advisory Centre. This procedure makes it possible to find information about accessibility and report issues. A communication campaign is being rolled out to promote the use of this procedure. In 2025: The communication campaign has been implemented. Medium term 4 Conduct a review of the performance management process and supporting tools In progress In 2024: Finalize an analysis of the impact of membership in the various diversity segments on performance management. Continue to refine procedures and adapt performance management practices to the needs of our employees. Case studies will be developed to facilitate understanding. In 2025: Analysis of the impact of membership in the various diversity segments (including persons with disabilities) on performance management is now carried out annually. The 2024 analysis is in progress. Medium term 5 Further analyze the accessibility of technological tools In progress In 2025: Analysis of a reading tool to facilitate concentration. Testing of an artificial intelligence-based assistant (Microsoft Copilot) with persons with disabilities to explore its benefits, including simplifying tasks and improving digital accessibility. Ongoing 6 Development of accessibility and anti-ableism policies Not started In 2025: We will be adding this deliverable in line with the employment standards published in December 2024. We will draw inspiration from CWB's existing accessibility policy to carry it out. Mid-term Goal 2 — Enhance employees’ and managers’ knowledge of accessibility to remove barriers. # Priority Progress Details Time frame 1 Continue to develop accessibility training material for all National Bank employees In progress In 2024: Training on understanding accessibility made available to all Bank employees; this training has been completed by all teams involved in accessibility issues. We are developing a strategy for rolling out accessibility training to all Bank employees. In 2025: Development and implementation of the first stage of training to raise awareness about disabilities and accommodations. It was rolled out to all employees in December 2024 and had been completed by 59% of them by the end of February 2025.  Ongoing 2 Raise awareness about accessibility and empower those responsible for developing learning, training and content design strategies In progress In 2024: Given the upcoming rollout of a new learning platform at the Bank: Hold workshops with the proje…