NOTE 16 - BENEFIT PLANS

Employee stock plans. As of December 31, 2015, the Company has four employee stock plans: the 1997 Plan, the 1999 Plan, the 2002 Plan and the 2005 Plan. Equity awards from these plans generally become exercisable 25% per year after the date of grant but may vest immediately at management’s discretion and expire no later than ten years from the date of grant.

The employee stock plans allow for grants of the Company’s common stock in the form of incentive stock options (“ISOs”), non-qualified stock options, and stock appreciation rights. Under the 2005 Plan, the Company may also grant restricted stock, stock units, performance shares, stock awards, dividend equivalents and other stock-based awards. The Company does not record a tax benefit for option awards at the grant date since the options it issues are generally ISOs and employees have typically held the stock received on exercise for the requisite holding period.

Employee stock options. The Company has not granted any options since 2008. As of December 31, 2012, options outstanding were fully amortized.

Restricted stock. The value of the restricted stock awarded is based on the closing price of the Company's common stock as of the date of the grant. During 2015, 2014 and 2013, the Company awarded a total of 460,307, 649,622 and 39,081 shares of restricted stock, respectively, valued at $4.1 million, $5.9 million and $335,000, respectively, and recorded equity compensation expense for outstanding restricted stock, net of estimated forfeitures, of $3.1 million, $2.0 million and $1.1 million (of which $0, $50,000 and $27,000 related to the accelerated vesting of awards for certain terminated employees), respectively.

Performance-based awards. The Company issues performance-based awards which are earned based on the achievement of specified goals as of a designated measurement date. The goals typically include such measures as earnings per share, return on equity, revenues and assets under management. During 2015, 2014 and 2013, the Company awarded 0, 90,614, and 0 shares of performance-based restricted stock, respectively, and recorded compensation expense of $420,000, $92,000 and $68,000 during 2015, 2014 and 2013, respectively, related to performance awards that had been earned. There were 45,306, 4,000, and 4,000 earned but not yet vested performance-based restricted shares outstanding as of December 31, 2015, 2014 and 2013, respectively.



Unearned Performance-based Restricted Stock	Shares
Outstanding, beginning of year	90,614
Awarded	—
Earned	(45,306	)
Outstanding, end of year	45,308

Aggregate information regarding the activity in the Company’s employee stock options as of December 31, 2015 is as follows:



Stock Options Outstanding	Shares			Weighted Average Exercise Price		Weighted Average Contractual Life	Aggregate Intrinsic Value
Balance, beginning of year	992,850			$	16.30	0.72	$	66,340
Exercised	—			$	—
Forfeited and/or expired	(852,850	)		$	16.32
Balance, end of year	140,000			$	16.19	1.73	$	—

Exercisable, December 31, 2015	140,000			$	16.19
Available for grant	1,306,545		⁽¹⁾


(1)	The shares available for grant are reduced by restricted stock award grants, net of forfeitures.

The following table summarizes the activity for nonvested restricted stock (excluding performance-based awards) during 2015. All options outstanding are vested.



	Shares		Weighted Average Grant Date Fair Value
Nonvested Restricted Stock
Outstanding, beginning of year	829,078		$	8.60
Granted	460,307		$	8.83
Vested and issued	(218,263	)	$	(7.93	)
Forfeited	(17,249	)	$	(8.33	)
Outstanding, end of year	1,053,873		$	8.84

Deferred stock and deferred compensation plans. In addition to the employee stock plans, the Company has three plans for its non-employee directors (“Eligible Directors”), the 1997 Director Plan, the 2002 Director Plan, and the 2012 Director Plan. Each unit granted under these plans represents the right to receive one share of the Company’s common stock.

The 1997 Director Plan has issued all of its authorized 134,073 units. As of December 31, 2015, there were 104,070 units vested and outstanding under this plan.

The 2002 Director Plan provides for the issuance of 173,450 units and terminated on April 29, 2012, such that the plan can no longer make any additional grants (grants outstanding remain unaffected). As of December 31, 2015, there were 127,175 units outstanding (of which 123,394 were vested) under the 2002 Director Plan.

Eligible Directors are eligible to participate in the 2012 Director Plan. Upon becoming a director, each Eligible Director receives units equal to a share compensation amount divided by the closing price of the Company’s common stock on the date of grant. Eligible Directors receive an additional unit award on each anniversary of the date of initial grant equal to their share compensation divided by the closing price of the Company’s common stock on the date of grant. Units vest on the later of: (i) the fifth anniversary of the date the recipient became an Eligible Director and (ii) the first anniversary of the grant of those units, except that units will vest sooner upon a change in control or death or disability of an Eligible Director, provided the Eligible Director has completed at least six months of service. Upon termination of service by an Eligible Director, shares of common stock are issued for vested units and all nonvested units are forfeited.

The 2012 Director Plan provides for the issuance of up to a maximum of 200,000 units and will terminate on March 8, 2022, except with respect to previously awarded grants. As of December 31, 2015, there were 57,164 units outstanding (35,713 of which were vested) under the 2012 Director Plan.

Aggregate information regarding the Company’s three director plans at December 31, 2015 was as follows:



	Shares	Weighted Average Grant Date Fair Value
Director Units
Outstanding, beginning of year	271,660	$	6.66
Granted	16,752	$	8.95
Issued	—	$	—
Forfeited	—	$	—
Outstanding, end of year	288,412	$	7.58

Vested units	263,180	$	6.51
Available for grant	159,588

The following table summarizes the activity for outstanding nonvested director units during 2015:



	Shares		Weighted Average Grant Date Fair Value
Nonvested Director Units
Outstanding, beginning of year	21,324		$	7.96
Granted	16,752		$	8.95
Vested	(12,844	)	$	(8.76	)
Forfeited	—		$	—
Outstanding, end of year	25,232		$	8.62

Employee 401(k) Plan. The Company sponsors a qualified 401(k) Plan to enable employees to save for their retirement on a tax deferred basis. Employees are eligible to make elective deferrals commencing on the first day of the month after their date of hire. Prior to January 1, 2012, the Company matched 50% of such deferrals, limited to 10% of an employee’s annual compensation, after the completion of 1000 hours of service and having been employed by the Company for one year. The match earned prior to January 1, 2012 vests over a period of five years. On January 1, 2012, the Plan was amended to become a Safe Harbor Plan and the match was changed to equal (1) 100% of participant contributions up to the first 3% of participant compensation, plus (2) 50% of participant contributions on the next 2% of participant compensation. In addition, matching contributions made after January 1, 2012 are 100% vested. The Company has recorded compensation expense, net of forfeitures, of $731,000, $373,000 and $490,000 for matching contributions during 2015, 2014 and 2013, respectively.

SERP. The Company established a SERP, which has Rabbi and Secular Trust components, for Mr. Edward E. Cohen (“Mr. E. Cohen”), while he was the Company’s Chief Executive Officer. The Company pays an annual benefit equal to $838,000 during his lifetime. The 1999 Trust, a secular trust, purchased and holds 100,000 shares of the common stock of TBBK ($1.1 million fair value at December 31, 2015). The Company anticipates funding $838,000 to the Plan during 2016 in order for the Plan to pay the annual benefit.

The components of net periodic benefit costs for the SERP were as follows (in thousands):



	Years Ended December 31,
	2015			2014			2013
Interest cost	$	249		$	273		$	225
Less: expected (loss) return on plan assets	(75		)	(154		)	(100		)
Plus: Amortization of unrecognized loss	423			279			381
Net cost	$	597		$	398		$	506

The reconciliation of the beginning and ending balances for the SERP benefit obligation and fair value of plan assets, comprised entirely of equity securities, as well as the funded status of the Company’s SERP liability, is as follows (in thousands):



	December 31,
	2015				2014
Projected benefit obligation, beginning of year	$	8,037			$	7,571
Interest cost	249				273
Actuarial loss	69				1,031
Benefit payments	(838		)		(838		)
Projected benefit obligation, end of year	$	7,517			$	8,037

Fair value of plan assets, beginning of year	$	1,655			$	2,573
Actual (loss) gain on plan assets	(591		)		(918		)
Fair value of plan assets, end of year	$	1,064			$	1,655

Unfunded status	$	(6,454	)		$	(6,383	)
Unrecognized net actuarial loss	6,015				5,704
Net accrued cost	$	(439	)		$	(679	)

Amounts recognized in the consolidated balance sheets consist of:
Accrued benefit liability	$	(6,454	)		$	(6,383	)
Accumulated other comprehensive loss	3,491			⁽¹⁾	3,003
Deferred tax asset	2,524				2,701
Net liability recognized	$	(439	)		$	(679	)


(1)	The estimated net loss for the plan that is expected to be amortized from accumulated other comprehensive loss into net periodic pension benefit cost over the next year is $485,000.

As of December 31, 2015, the fair value of the SERP plan asset by level within the fair value hierarchy was as follows (in thousands):



	Level 1		Level 2		Level 3		Total
Asset:
Equity securities - TBBK	$	1,064	$	—	$	—	$	1,064