Company: FCNCB
Filing Date: 2025-03-18
Form Type: DEF 14A
Source: 0001193125-25-056659
Chunk: 18

Company: FIRST CITIZENS BANCSHARES INC /DE/
Filing Date: 2025-03-18
Form: DEF 14A
Chunk 18
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, and any other director, including an independent director, may be elected to serve as Chairman. In practice, our Board has found that having a combined Chairman and Chief Executive Officer role allows for more productive board meetings. As Chairman, Mr. Holding is responsible for leading board meetings and meetings of stockholders, generally setting the agendas for board meetings (subject to the requests from our Lead Independent Director and other directors), and providing information to the other directors in advance of meetings and between meetings. The Boards believe Mr. Holding’s direct involvement in our operations makes him best positioned to lead strategic planning sessions and determine the time allocated to each agenda item during meetings and in discussions of our short- and long-term objectives. As a result, our Board currently believes that maintaining a structure that combines the roles of Chairman and Chief Executive Officer is the appropriate leadership structure for our company. Our independent directors meet regularly in executive session, giving them opportunities to discuss any concerns without the Chairman or other members of management being present, and, as described below under the heading “COMMITTEES OF OUR BOARDS,” all matters pertaining to executive compensation, the selection of nominees for election as directors, the appointment of members of Board committees, the approval of transactions with related persons, and various other governance matters, are subject to the review and approval or recommendation of Board committees made up entirely of independent directors. Our Corporate Governance Guidelines also provide that:

| ● |     | all independent directors have full access to any member of management and to our and FCB’s independent accountants and internal auditors for the purpose of discussing and understanding issues relating to our business; |

| ● |     | upon request, our management will arrange for our outside advisors to be made available for discussions with the Board, any Board committee, our independent directors as a group, or individual directors; and |

| ● |     | the Boards, each Board committee, and our independent directors as a group, have the authority to retain independent advisors from time to time, at our expense, who are separate from and unrelated to our regular advisors. |

| 2025 Annual Proxy Statement |     | 21 |

Corporate Governance Our Board believes the provisions described above enhance the effectiveness of our independent directors and provide for a leadership structure that is appropriate for our company, without regard to whether our Chairman is an independent director.

| Lead Independent Director. Robert T. Newcomb, who also currently serves as Chairman of our CNG Committee, has been designated by our independent directors, and currently serves, as our Lead Independent Director.