Company: MFAN
Filing Date: 2025-04-18
Form Type: DEF 14A
Source: 0001140361-25-014577
Chunk: 50

Company: MFA FINANCIAL, INC.
Filing Date: 2025-04-18
Form: DEF 14A
Chunk 50
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sohn’s Formulaic Bonus by making a portion of the Formulaic Bonus that could be earned based on a comparison of the Company’s Adjusted Distributable Earnings ROAE for the four calendar quarters beginning October 1, 2023 and ending September 30, 2024 (the “Relative DE ROAE Performance Period”), relative to a peer group of mortgage REITs and other mortgage finance companies selected by the Compensation Committee for the same period. The Compensation Committee selected as the peer group those companies (excluding MFA) comprising the iShares Mortgage Real Estate ETF (Symbol: REM) as of December 29, 2023 (such group referred to as the “Relative DE ROAE Peer Group”). A list of these companies can be found in Appendix A to this Proxy Statement. The Compensation Committee established the four calendar quarters beginning October 1, 2023 and ending September 30, 2024, as the measurement period for the determination of the Relative DE ROAE Bonus because the peer group companies do not report (and the Company is unable to obtain) earnings information for the 12-month period (December 1 through

| MFA Financial, Inc. | 41 | 2025 Proxy Statement |

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November 30) that has historically constituted the performance period that the Compensation Committee has used to evaluate our executives’ annual bonuses. The Compensation Committee’s determination to use a measure of ROAE based on Adjusted Distributable Earnings is based on the belief that Adjusted Distributable Earnings is a meaningful measure of MFA’s operating performance, as the calculation of Adjusted Distributable Earnings for purposes of determining the Distributable Earnings ROAE Bonus excludes, principally, the impact of gains and losses on the Company’s investment assets, hedges and liabilities, which can be amplified in volatile interest rate markets and may distort the earnings potential of such investment assets (which the Board factors into the determination of dividends on Common Stock) and longer-term performance of these investment assets. In this regard, the Compensation Committee believed the use of Adjusted Distributable Earnings ROAE would be a particularly meaningful measure to evaluate Company performance, in light of the volatility in interest rates that began to assert itself in the fourth quarter of 2021 and continued throughout 2022 and 2023. Adjusted GAAP ROAE Bonus and Adjusted Distributable Earnings ROAE Bonus . With the above in mind, the Compensation Committee established the following levels of Adjusted GAAP ROAE for the purpose of determining