Company: AX
Filing Date: 2025-09-25
Form Type: DEF 14A
Source: 0001299709-25-000174
Chunk: 59

Company: Axos Financial, Inc.
Filing Date: 2025-09-25
Form: DEF 14A
Chunk 59
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. The purpose of the 2014 Plan is to help us attract, motivate and retain such persons and thereby enhance stockholder value. The 2014 Plan allows for management and our Board to award stock incentives to substantially all employees as a retention incentive and to ensure that employees' compensation incentives are aligned with stock price appreciation. We do not grant equity awards to any non-employees other than our ten non-employee directors.

Since the original adoption of the 2014 Plan in 2014, the Company’s employee headcount has increased from approximately 366 to 1,989 individuals as of June 30, 2025, both from organic growth as well as acquisitions.

The Board is seeking stockholder approval of an Amendment No.1 to the 2014 Plan (the “Amendment”) described below. The Board approved the Amendment on September 19, 2025.

#### Executive Summary
The following points outline the reasons why we think stockholders should support the Amendment:

#### •

#### Equity usage and needs.
– The 2014 Plan allows us to award stock incentives to almost all of our employees as a retention incentive and to ensure that their compensation incentives are aligned with stock price appreciation.

• 100% of U.S.-based full-time employees who have reached the end of their first bonus period are provided a portion of their incentive compensation in the form of RSUs.

#### •

#### Multi-year vesting supports employee retention.
– As of September 1, 2025, approximately 5.5 million of the 6.7 million shares in the Plan have been used to support our retention goals since the 2014 Plan was initially adopted.

– 1,000,000 shares represent only 1.8% of our current outstanding shares and their addition to the current reserve should provide for 2-3 years of our equity compensation needs assuming the current 3-year average burn rate.

• Since the initial adoption of the 2014 Plan, our full-time employees have increased from 366 to 1,989, including the additions of the securities clearing and custody business and commercial verticals that the Company did not have in 2014.

• Additionally, we intend to use a portion of the increased share reserve to opportunistically hire talent to accelerate the advancement of existing and new businesses.

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## Item 3. Approval of an Amendment to the Amended and Restated 2014 Stock Incentive Plan
– Our compensation approach more strongly ties our employees’ interests with