The Company maintains the Amended and Restated MBIA Inc. Omnibus Incentive Plan (the “Omnibus Plan”), which was originally effective upon approval by the shareholders of the Company on May 5, 2005, and subsequently amended on May 7, 2009, May 1, 2012, May 5, 2020 and May 3, 2022. Under the Omnibus Plan a maximum of 17,400,000 shares of the Company’s common stock can be used for any type of award including stock options, performance shares, performance units, restricted stock, restricted stock units and dividend equivalents. Any shares issued under the Omnibus Plan in connection with stock options shall be counted against this limit as 1 share covered by such option. For all awards other than stock options, any shares issued shall be counted against this limit as 1.28 shares for every share issued after the May 1, 2012 amendment and two shares for every share issued prior to the May 1, 2012 amendment. Currently, the type of equity awards granted by the Company include time- and performance-based restricted stock.

Under the restricted stock component of the Omnibus Plan, certain employees are granted restricted shares of the Company’s common stock. These awards have a restriction period lasting between three to seven years depending on the type of award, after which time the awards fully vest. During the vesting period, these shares may not be sold. Restricted stock may be granted to all employees.

There were 1,760,032 shares available for future grants under the Omnibus Plan as of December 31, 2023.

In accordance with accounting guidance for share-based payments, the Company expenses the fair value of stock-based compensation as described in the following sections. In addition, the guidance classifies share-based payment awards as either liability awards, which are remeasured at fair value at each balance sheet date, or equity awards, which are measured on the grant date and not subsequently remeasured. Generally, awards with cash-based settlement repurchase features or that are settled at a fixed dollar amount are classified as liability awards, and changes in fair value will be reported in earnings. Awards with net-settlement features are classified as equity awards and changes in fair value are not reported in earnings. The Company’s long-term incentive plans include features which result in equity awards. In addition, the guidance requires the use of a forfeiture estimate. The Company uses historical employee termination information to estimate the forfeiture rate applied to current stock-based awards.

The Company maintains voluntary retirement benefits, which provide certain benefits to eligible employees of the Company upon retirement. A description of these benefits is included in the Company’s proxy statement. One of the components of the retirement program for those employees that are retirement eligible is to continue to vest all performance-based restricted stock awards beyond the retirement date in accordance with the original vesting terms and to immediately vest all outstanding time-based restricted stock grants. The accounting guidance for share-based payment requires compensation costs for those employees to be recognized from the date of grant through the retirement eligible date. Accelerated expense, if any, relating to this retirement benefit for restricted stock awards has been included in the compensation expense amounts. Refer to the “Performance Based Awards” section below for additional information on compensation expense.

The fair value of the restricted shares awarded, net of cancellations, determined on the grant date during 2023 and 2022 was $6 million. The amount of unearned compensation, net of estimated forfeitures, was $4 million as of December 31, 2023, which is expected to be recognized as expense over a weighted average period of 1.31 years. Unearned compensation is amortized to expense over the appropriate vesting period.

In connection with the MBIA Inc. dividend payment to shareholders, payments to restricted stockholders was considered a modification of the original restricted stock awards since the dividend payment was required to be made to restricted stockholders. There was no additional compensation expense recognized on the restricted stock awards as a result of the dividend payment, since the fair value of the awards immediately before the modification was the same as the fair value of the awards after the modification, including the cash payment. Therefore, the dividend payment to restricted stockholders was effectively a cash settlement of a portion of the original awards since no future service is required to earn the cash. Since the restricted stock awards were unvested at the modification date, the dividend payment accelerated the recognition of compensation expense by $5 million in 2023 for the portion of the arrangement that was settled. Refer to “Note 1: Business Developments and Risks and Uncertainties” for additional information on the dividend.

Compensation expense related to the restricted shares, net of estimated forfeitures, was $18 million, $12 million and $12 million for the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021, respectively. There was no tax charge related to the restricted share awards during 2023, 2022 and 2021 after consideration of the Company’s valuation allowance.

A summary of the Company’s restricted shares outstanding as of December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021, and changes during the years ended on those dates, is presented in the following table:


	Restricted Share Activity
	2023					2022					2021
	Number of Shares			Weighted Average Price Per Share		Number of Shares			Weighted Average Price Per Share		Number of Shares			Weighted Average Price Per Share
Outstanding at beginning of year		5,759,505		$	9.5583		5,907,636		$	9.1868		5,454,807		$	9.5344
Granted		519,238			11.6314		478,670			13.4214		978,866			6.8492
Vested		(1,440,473	)		9.0587		(586,582	)		9.2154		(526,037	)		8.4418
Forfeited		—			—		(40,219	)		5.9673		—			—
Outstanding at end of year		4,838,270		$	9.9295		5,759,505		$	9.5583		5,907,636		$	9.1868

During 2023, 2022 and 2021, the Company granted 255,340, 216,460 and 502,822 restricted shares, respectively, to certain key employees which have a vesting schedule dependent on the achievement of certain stock price targets of the Company. The grants and corresponding compensation expense have been included in the above restricted stock disclosures. As permitted by the accounting guidance for share-based payments, the Company estimates the fair value of awards that contain market performance conditions at the date of grant using a binomial lattice model with a Monte Carlo simulation and recognizes compensation cost over the requisite service period. The binomial lattice model can better incorporate assumptions about a stock price path because the model can accommodate a large number of potential stock prices over the award’s term in comparison to the Black-Scholes model. As of December 31, 2023, certain previously awarded grants exceeded the stock price performance target. The corresponding issuance of additional shares has been included in the above restricted stock disclosure. As of December 31, 2022 certain previously awarded grants did not meet the stock price performance target. The corresponding cancellation of shares was included in the above restricted stock disclosures. As of December 31, 2021, certain previously awarded grants exceeded the stock price performance target. The corresponding issuance of additional shares has been included in the above restricted stock disclosure.

The Company maintains a qualified non-contributory defined contribution pension plan to which the Company contributes 10% of each eligible employee’s annual compensation. Annual compensation for determining such contributions consists of base salary and bonus, as applicable, up to a maximum of $2 million. Pension benefits vest over the first five-year period of employment with 20% vested after two years, 60% vested after three years, 80% vested after four years and 100% vested after five years. The Company funds the annual pension contribution by the following February of each applicable year.

The Company also maintains a qualified 401(k) plan. The plan is a voluntary contributory plan that allows eligible employees to defer compensation for federal income tax purposes under Section 401(k) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended. Employees may contribute, through payroll deductions, up to 25% of eligible compensation. The Company matches employee contributions up to the first 5% of such compensation. The 401(k) matching contributions are made in the form of cash, whereby participants may direct the Company match to an investment of their choice. The 401(k) matching benefits vest over the first five-year period of employment with 20% vested after two years, 60% vested after three years, 80% vested after four years and 100% vested after five years. Generally, a participating employee is entitled to distributions from the plans upon termination of employment, retirement, death or disability.

In addition to the above two plans, the Company maintains a non-qualified deferred compensation plan. Contributions to the above qualified plans that exceed limitations established by federal regulations are then contributed to the non-qualified deferred compensation plan.

Expenses related to these plans for the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021 were $2 million, $3 million and $4 million, respectively.