Mercantile Bank Corporation

11/25/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 11/25/2024 15:41

Management Change/Compensation Form 8 K

Item 5.02 Departure of Directors or Certain Officers; Election of Directors; Appointment of Certain Officers; Compensatory Arrangements of Certain Officers.
Adoption of Nonqualified Deferred Compensation Plan #2
On November 21, 2024, the Board of Directors of Mercantile Bank (the "Bank"), a wholly owned subsidiary of Mercantile Bank Corporation ("Mercantile"), adopted Nonqualified Deferred Compensation Plan #2 ("Deferred Compensation Plan #2") to be effective on January 1, 2025. Deferred Compensation Plan #2 will replace the Mercantile Bank Amended and Restated Deferred Compensation Plan, which was most recently restated as of January 1, 2015 (the "Deferred Compensation Plan").
Deferred Compensation Plan #2 will be administered by Mercantile's Compensation Committee.
Initially, only members of the Board of Directors and Executive Vice Presidents of Mercantile and the Bank will be eligible to participate in Deferred Compensation Plan #2. All other eligible employees will continue to be eligible for the Deferred Compensation Plan, and will be eligible to participate in Deferred Compensation Plan #2 on January 1, 2026. Eligible employees must be a member of a select group of management or highly compensated employees.
Eligible employees, including the executive officers, may defer up to 80% of their base salary and 100% of their performance-based bonus to Deferred Compensation Plan #2. Members of the Board of Directors of Mercantile and the Bank may defer up to 100% of their director fees. Neither Mercantile nor the Bank will make an employer contribution to Deferred Compensation Plan #2. Participants are 100% vested in their accounts in the plan at all times.
Participant accounts will be credited with earnings determined as if the account were invested in one or more investment funds made available by the Compensation Committee.
Participant accounts will be distributed upon a separation from service, death or disability. Distributions following a separation from service will be made in either a lump sum or annual installments over a term certain elected by the participant, not to exceed 10 years. Distributions in the event of death or disability will be made in a lump sum. A participant may also elect to receive an in-service distribution, payable in either a lump sum or annual installments over a term certain not to exceed five years. Finally, a participant may elect to receive a lump sum distribution if the participant experiences an unforeseeable emergency. A change in control is not a distributable event.
A copy of Deferred Compensation Plan #2 is attached hereto as Exhibit 10.1
Amounts credited to the Deferred Compensation Plan will continue to be held in the Deferred Compensation Plan. On November 21, 2024, the Bank's Board of Directors approved a Second Amendment to the Deferred Compensation Plan, setting forth the transition to Deferred Compensation Plan #2. The Second Amendment to the Deferred Compensation Plan addresses the following:
The ineligibility of Directors and Executive Vice Presidents as of January 1 2025, and the ineligibility of all other eligible employees as of January 1, 2026.
Confirming that the accounts of each such participant will continue to be credited to Deferred Compensation Plan and will receive interest credits as set forth therein, and will be paid out according to the terms of the plan and each participant's distribution election(s).
All other rights, limitations and restrictions in Deferred Compensation Plan will continue to apply to each participant's account.
A copy of the Second Amendment to the Deferred Compensation Plan is attached hereto as Exhibit 10.2.
On November 21, 2024, the Bank's Board of Directors adopted a rabbi trust agreement to hold amounts credited to Deferred Compensation Plan #2 (the "Trust Agreement"). The Trust Agreement is between the Bank, as settlor, and Delaware Charter Guarantee & Trust Company, conducting business as Principal Trust Company, as trustee. The trust will hold all amounts credited to Deferred Compensation Plan #2, and benefits will be paid from the trust. The trust is irrevocable and will terminate only when all trust assets have been distributed to participants or their beneficiaries. Trust assets are subject to the claims of the Bank's general creditors. In the event of the Bank's insolvency, the trustee will cease the payment of benefits until it receives a determination from the Bank's independent accountants that the Bank is not insolvent, or is no longer insolvent. The trust may be amended by a written instrument executed by the trustee and the Bank, but no such amendment shall make the trust revocable.
A copy of the Trust Agreement is attached hereto as Exhibit 10.3.