Company: BWFG
Filing Date: 2025-04-08
Form Type: DEF 14A
Source: 0001505732-25-000079
Chunk: 20

Company: Bankwell Financial Group, Inc.
Filing Date: 2025-04-08
Form: DEF 14A
Chunk 20
---
 and the affairs of the Bank. Our Corporate Governance Guidelines address, among other things, the composition and functions of our Board of Directors, director independence, compensation of directors, management succession and review, board committees and selection of new directors. Our Corporate Governance Guidelines also provide that a director may not serve on the board of more than four public companies. In addition, our Board of Directors has adopted Codes of Conduct that apply to all of our directors, officers and employees, including a Code of Conduct for Senior Financial Officers, which is applicable to our Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer, Director of Accounting, and Controller. Our Corporate Governance Guidelines, as well as our Codes of Conduct, are available on our website at www.mybankwell.com. Any amendments to our Code of Conduct for Senior Financial Officers, or any waivers of its requirements, will be disclosed on our website, as well as any other means required by the Nasdaq Stock Market rules.

Compensation Committee Interlocks and Insider Participation

None of the members of our Compensation Committee are or have been an officer or employee of the Company or the Bank. In addition, none of our executive officers serves or has served as a member of the board of directors compensation committee or other board committee performing equivalent functions of any entity that has one or more executive officers serving as one of our directors or on our Compensation Committee.

#### Director Share Ownership Requirements
The Board of Directors has adopted a policy requiring each director to hold shares of the Company’s common stock with a value equal to at least three times the average annual Board fees received by the director in the three calendar years preceding calculation (or fewer if the Director has not yet served three years), but no less than $150,000. That number shall be divided by the closing price of the Company’s stock on December 31 of the year preceding calculation to determine the share ownership requirement for that year. The ownership requirement must initially be met by no later than the second annual anniversary after the director’s first election or appointment to the Board of Directors. Directors are expected to retain all vested restricted stock (net of shares withheld for or used to pay taxes) until they achieve the specified ownership level and thereafter maintain such ownership level. Currently, all directors who have served for at least two years meet the stock ownership requirement.

#### Anti-Hedging/Anti-Pledging Policy
The Board of Directors has adopted an Anti-Hedging and Anti-Pledging Policy. The policy prohibits directors, officers and employees of the Company from (i) trading in publicly-traded options