Company: ABR-PF
Filing Date: 2025-04-17
Form Type: DEF 14A
Source: 0001628280-25-018236
Chunk: 43

Company: ARBOR REALTY TRUST INC
Filing Date: 2025-04-17
Form: DEF 14A
Chunk 43
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 securities.

#### Advisory Vote to Approve NEO Compensation
Following the 2023 annual meeting of stockholders, the Board resolved to accept the stockholders’ recommendation to hold an advisory vote on the compensation of our NEOs on an annual basis. Please see “Proposal No. 3 — Advisory Vote on Named Executive Officer Compensation” below for more information. Since the 2024 annual meeting of stockholders, there have been no material changes in the structure of our compensation programs or pay for performance

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philosophy, except with respect to the new stock ownership guidelines for certain officers that have been put into place by the Board in March 2025, more fully described above.

The Board and the Compensation Committee continue to expect to take the results of this vote and future votes into consideration when making future compensation decisions with respect to the NEOs, but are not required to do so.

#### Deductibility of Executive Compensation
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (“Tax Act”), enacted in 2017, substantially modified Section 162(m) of the Internal Revenue Code. Beginning in 2018, the Tax Act generally no longer allows a tax deduction for “performance-based” compensation paid to each “covered employee” (individual who served as the CEO and three other most highly compensated executive officers other than the CFO) over $1 million during any fiscal year. In addition, among the changes to Section 162(m) under the Tax Act, the “covered employees” were expanded to include the CFO, and once one of our NEOs is considered a covered employee, the NEO will remain a covered employee as long as he or she receive compensation from us.

The American Rescue Plan Act (“ARPA”), enacted in March 2021, further expanded the definition of “covered employees” under the Tax Act. Effective for tax years beginning after December 31, 2026, the covered employees will be expanded to include an additional five highly compensated employees beyond the CEO, CFO and the three other highly compensated executive officers already covered by the Tax Act. However, unlike our NEOs, the additional five highly compensated employees identified pursuant to ARPA will not be considered covered employees indefinitely.

The Committee has not adopted a formal policy that requires all compensation paid to the NEOs to be fully deductible.

#### Annual Incentive Agreement
2024 Annual Incentive Agreement. On April 2, 2024, the Compensation Committee of the Board approved and recommended to the