Company: MBINL
Filing Date: 2025-04-04
Form Type: DEF 14A
Source: 0001104659-25-032188
Chunk: 26

Company: Merchants Bancorp
Filing Date: 2025-04-04
Form: DEF 14A
Chunk 26
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 consultants and similar third parties to fully understand our business model, which is unlike most traditional banks, or find appropriate peer institutions or find other executive officers whose roles align with those of our executive officers. Instead, the Compensation Committee generally relied upon market data provided by internal parties that the Compensation Committee deems reasonable and appropriate, including our internal human resources department, and survey data from industry resources. However, in 2022, the Compensation Committee determined that it would be appropriate and helpful to engage Aon because, among other reasons, the Company had grown substantially, in assets and the complexity of the products and services we offer, the executive officers’ responsibilities had substantially increased, and the Company was competing for executive talent on a national level. In particular, Aon reviewed, made recommendations, and provided general advice with respect to our peer group and our compensation practices and amounts, with any potential changes therefrom to be effective in 2023. In its engagement of Aon, the Compensation Committee considered the independence of its compensation advisors under applicable SEC and Nasdaq listing rules and concluded there was no conflict of interest with respect to this engagement. As part of its engagement, Aon assisted the Compensation Committee with determining a new peer group. For this peer group, the Compensation Committee primarily considered institutions with annual revenue between $300 and $860 million, with multifamily loans being more than 7% of their total loan portfolio, and/or which were otherwise close competitors in geography or business model. In September 2022, the Compensation Committee selected a group of 26 publicly traded companies as its peer group, which was used in making executive compensation decisions for 2023. For 2024, the Compensation Committee chose not to engage Aon and as with years prior, relied upon market data provided by internal parties that the Compensation Committee deems reasonable and appropriate, including our internal human resources department, and survey data from industry resources. The Compensation Committee believed the existing peer group, selected in late 2022, to still be appropriate and reflective of other institutions which operate similar lines of business, including having substantial multifamily assets, and did not make any changes with the exception of removing Banc of California Inc. and Provident Financial Services, each of which completed substantial merger transactions in 2023 or 2024, making them less comparable to the Company. The peer group utilized by the Compensation Committee in making executive compensation decisions for 2024 is as follows:

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| Berkshire