Company: ASB
Filing Date: 2025-03-17
Form Type: DEF 14A
Source: 0000007789-25-000025
Chunk: 47

Company: ASSOCIATED BANC-CORP
Filing Date: 2025-03-17
Form: DEF 14A
Chunk 47
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 Capital Bancshares           | Wintrust Financial Corporation |
| *Umpqua Holdings Corporation merged with Columbia Bank in 2023 and is now Columbia Banking System. |                                    |                                |

While the peer group is a key point of comparison in the total compensation strategy, the Committee also considered broader banking and financial services industry survey data as part of its compensation determinations to provide additional market context. The compensation consultant analyzed compensation data from peer company public filings and the McLagan and Willis Towers Watson executive financial services surveys, each of which included members of Associated’s peer group. In analyzing the data, the compensation consultant advised that the additional comparisons, beyond the peer group, provided a broader perspective from which to appropriately compare compensation.

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| EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION FOR 2024 |

Notable 2024 Highlights In 2024, we saw signs of a strengthened US economy. In the Midwest, unemployment rates remained well below the national average. Our Consumer borrowers remained resilient and our Commercial customers were cautiously optimistic about their future growth prospects. This stability allowed Associated to deliver positive financial results and continue to execute our Growth Strategy. We continue to see strong financial results and 2024 was a year of advancing our growth initiatives which included: • Filling several key leadership roles by elevating three business line leaders to our ELT • Expanding our Commercial presence by launching a new deposit vertical in the fourth quarter of 2024 • Welcoming several high quality Relationship Managers to our growing Commercial Team • Rebalancing our Consumer Lending approach • Repositioning our balance sheet in both 2023 and 2024 In the fourth quarter of 2024, to support our organic growth strategy, we repositioned our balance sheet with the sale of approximately $1.3 billion of investment securities and $0.7 billion in mortgage loans, and the purchase of $55 million in existing credit card balances. This repositioning supports and accelerates our strategy by enhancing our earnings profile, boosting capital, and providing additional capacity for loan growth. We believe we are well-positioned to attract and deepen customer relationships, grow market share in key commercial markets, and enhance the value of our franchise. Balance Sheet Repositionings in 2023 and 2024 Our financial results for the years ending December 31, 2023 and December 31, 2024 were impacted by several nonrecurring items associated with the balance sheet repositionings announced in November of 2023 and December of 2024, respectively. For the year ended December