[Commencing on May 3, 2021, F.N.B. Corporation sent the following communication to certain of its shareholders.]
May 3, 2021
Dear Shareholder:
At F.N.B. Corporation’s (“FNB”) 2021 annual meeting, you will again be provided the opportunity to cast an advisory vote on the compensation of our named executive officers (Proposal No. 2). ISS Proxy Advisory Services (“ISS”) has recommended that its clients vote against our executive compensation proposal. We believe that our executive compensation practices and decisions as it related to 2020 compensation, and in general, merit support by shareholders, and for the reasons discussed below, we urge you to vote FOR the executive compensation proposal:
Importantly, with the changes we have made to our compensation plans over the last few years (described on pages 48-49 of our proxy statement), we believe our incentive plans have a very strong alignment with shareholder interests. As described on page 48 of our 2021 proxy statement, 78% of the target total compensation of our CEO is variable compensation.
2020 Incentive Plan Targets
As was the case for so many companies, 2020 was a challenging year for our company. One of the actions our Compensation Committee took into careful consideration was establishing targets in accord with our financial plan. Although it was determined to establish lower 2020 targets in comparison with prior-year targets, notably our 2020 target was set above analysts’ consensus estimates at that time. Also, the lower 2020 target determination was solely due to the significant accounting change to the CECL model that applied to all banks. On January 1, 2020, we adopted ASU 2016-13, Financial Instruments – Credit Losses (Topic 326), which replaced the incurred credit loss impairment methodology with a methodology that reflects lifetime current expected credit losses (commonly referred to as CECL). Excluding this accounting change, the target would have been essentially the same as the prior year reflecting the significant reduction in interest rates burdening all banks’ earnings. In reviewing the proxy statements of each of our peers, about half of the peers also set 2020 targets that were lower than their 2019 actual targets as the “lower for longer” interest rate environment represented a significant change in the banking industry’s pricing power which impacted earnings projections. Significantly, for compensation there are multiple key performance indicators (as shown on page 63 of our 2021 proxy statement) used to measure relative performance to peers such as efficiency ratio, growth in tangible book value per share plus common dividends, and return on tangible common equity intended to create a balanced approach to deliver sustained value to our shareholders.
2020 Incentive Plan Payments
The Compensation Committee also determined it appropriate to reduce the incentive payout level for the operating EPS metric after considering the impact on our shareholders as reflected in our share price performance during 2020. We believe this action demonstrates direct alignment with shareholder interests. Given the significant actions and extraordinary leadership by our CEO during the pandemic, the Compensation Committee exercised discretion by making a modest increase to the CEO’s award in recognition of how his exceptional efforts and actions protected shareholder value in an unprecedented period. As comprehensively discussed in our proxy statement on pages 2 through 5 and extensively discussed in our 2021 Corporate Responsibility Report, “our Board Chairman and CEO spearheaded the development and implementation of FNB’s COVID-19 response by establishing four foundational pillars:” Employee Protection and Assistance, Operational Response and Preparedness, Customer and Community Support, Risk Management Protocols and Shareholder Value Preservation. Notably, these decisions resulted in a decrease in our CEO’s total compensation in 2020 compared to 2019, including his short-term incentive payout.
2020 Long-Term Incentive Payments
Long-term incentive performance-based awards vesting in 2020 were earned above target given our relative financial and TSR performance compared to peers as those plans are 100% peer based. The ROATA component ranked in the 68th percentile compared to peers and the TSR modifier was based on performance equating to the 47th percentile, very slightly below peers. This focus on performance based compensation was further demonstrated by the Compensation Committee’s decision not to increase the CEO’s base salary for 2021 given the pandemic environment.
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