Company: CVBF
Filing Date: 2025-04-08
Form Type: DEF 14A
Source: 0000950170-25-051966
Chunk: 67

Company: CVB FINANCIAL CORP
Filing Date: 2025-04-08
Form: DEF 14A
Chunk 67
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These banking institutions were selected by the Compensation Committee because we believe they have similar business models and capabilities, and generally operate in a similar manner, to CVB Financial Corp. Specifically, the institutions in our peer group were all within an approximate ratio of 0.23x to 3.37x in both key components of total assets and market capitalization, as compared to CVB Financial Corp. Within this defined universe of banks and bank holding companies, the Committee and Pearl Meyer then focused on the subset of institutions that engaged in business banking and commercial lending and also operate in major metropolitan areas, where the Committee believes that competitive costs, pay levels and pay structures are more similar and relevant to those of the Company. Compared to the fifteen peers, CVB Financial Corp. ranked at the 27th percentile for total assets and at the 59th percentile for market capitalization as of a December 31, 2024 comparison date.

While our market analysis of the peer group and the surveys utilized by our outside compensation consultants inform our range of compensation alternatives, we do not tie our executive officers’ or directors’ compensation levels to specific market percentiles. Instead, the Compensation Committee uses this comparative compensation information as a set of reference points to assist in the retention of key executives whose performance is critical for the success of the organization and in the setting of appropriate goals with respect to the Company’s desired performance and results.

The Compensation Committee has observed that, based on the Pearl Meyer benchmarking study conducted in November 2024, the total compensation targeted to be paid to our five NEOs, collectively, during our 2024 fiscal year, based on then-available data on their 2024 base salaries and actual incentives paid for 2023, generally falls at approximately the 50th percentile for the peer group, while Mr. Brager's compensation as our President and CEO generally aligns with the 45th percentile for peer group CEOs.

By contrast, with respect to the Company’s financial and operational performance on six key metrics commonly utilized to evaluate banking organizations, as summarized above in the section of this proxy statement on “Overview of our Financial and Operational Performance,” the Company achieved the top (fourth) or third quartile performance on four of the six key metrics, relative to the same peer group, during 2024, and achieved top (fourth) or third quartile performance on five of the same six metrics for the three-year period from 2022-2024. As a result, effective in January 2025, the