Employee Compensation and Benefit Plans

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2020

Employee Compensation and Benefit Plans Our employee compensation and benefit plans include: (i) Incentive Compensation Plan; (ii) Direct Drive Incentive Compensation Plan; (iii) Retention Program; (iv) Warrant Incentive Plan; (v) Deferred Compensation Plan; (vi) 401(k) and ESOP; (vii) SVB Leerink Incentive Compensation Plan; (viii) SVB Leerink Retention Award; (ix) EHOP; (x) 2006 Incentive Plan; and (xi) ESPP. The 2006 Incentive Plan and the ESPP are described in Note 4—“Share-Based Compensation.”

A summary of expenses incurred under certain employee compensation and benefit plans for 2020, 2019 and 2018 is as follows:


	Year ended December 31,
(Dollars in thousands)	2020		2019		2018
Incentive Compensation Plan	$	193,004	$	143,888	$	160,293
Direct Drive Incentive Compensation Plan	37,681		37,315		40,578
Retention Program	—		2,438		1,438
Warrant Incentive Plan	33,921		14,881		9,112
SVBFG 401(k) Plan	29,939		25,687		21,323
SVBFG ESOP	5,807		4,197		6,435
SVB Leerink Incentive Compensation Plan	233,145		106,871		—
SVB Leerink Retention Award	12,991		12,015		—

Incentive Compensation Plan

Our Incentive Compensation Plan (“ICP”) is an annual cash incentive plan that rewards performance based on our financial results and other performance criteria. Awards are made based on company performance, the employee's target bonus level and management's assessment of individual employee performance.

Direct Drive Incentive Compensation Plan

The Direct Drive Incentive Compensation Plan (“Direct Drive”) is an annual sales cash incentive program. Awards are based on sales teams' performance as to predetermined financial targets and other company/individual performance criteria. Actual awards for each sales team member under Direct Drive are based on: (i) the actual results and financial performance with respect to the incentive gross profit targets; (ii) the sales team payout targets; and (iii) the sales team member's sales position and team payout allocation.

Retention Program

The Retention Program (“RP”) is a long-term incentive plan that allows designated employees to share directly in our investment success. Plan participants were granted an interest in the distributions of gains from certain designated investments made by us during the applicable year. Specifically, participants share in: (i) returns from designated investments made by us, including investments in certain venture capital and private equity funds, debt funds and direct equity investments in companies; (ii) net income realized from the exercise of, and the subsequent sale of shares obtained through the exercise of, warrants held by us; and (iii) other designated amounts as determined by us. Since 2009, no new participants have been added and no new investments have been designated to the plan. The final distributions under this program were made during 2020 and we did not incur any expenses for the year ended December 31, 2020.

Warrant Incentive Plan

The Warrant Incentive Plan provides individual and team awards to those employees who negotiate warrants on our behalf. Designated participants, as determined by the Company, share in the cash proceeds received by the Company from the exercise of equity warrant assets.

Deferred Compensation Plan

Under the Deferred Compensation Plan (the “DC Plan”), eligible employees may elect to defer up to 50 percent of their base salary and/or up to 100 percent of any eligible bonus payment earned during the plan year. Any amounts deferred under the DC Plan will be invested and administered by us (or such person we designate). We generally do not match employee deferrals to the DC Plan. From time to time, we may also offer deferred special retention incentives and employer contributions under this plan to key plan participants. The deferred incentives and employer contributions are eligible for investment in the DC Plan during the retention qualifying period or vesting period.

Voluntary deferrals under the DC Plan were $5.8 million $6.9 million and $5.5 million in 2020, 2019 and 2018, respectively. The DC Plan overall, had investment gains of $8.5 million, gains of $6.9 million and losses of $1.7 million in 2020, 2019 and 2018, respectively.

401(k) and ESOP

The 401(k) Plan and ESOP, collectively referred to as the “Plan”, is a combined 401(k) tax-deferred savings plan and employee stock ownership plan in which all regular U.S. employees are eligible to participate.

Employees participating in the 401(k) Plan are allowed to contribute up to 75 percent of their pre-tax pay as defined in the Plan, up to the maximum annual amount allowable under federal income tax regulations of $19,500 for 2020, $19,000 for 2019, and $18,500 for 2018. We match the employee's contributions dollar-for-dollar, up to five percent of the employee's pre-tax pay as defined in the Plan. Our matching contributions vest immediately. The amount of salary deferred, up to the allowed maximum, is not subject to federal or state income taxes at the time of deferral.

Discretionary ESOP contributions, based on our company performance, are made by us to all eligible individuals employed by us on the last day of the fiscal year. We may elect to contribute cash or our common stock (or a combination of cash and stock), in an amount not exceeding ten percent of the employee's eligible pay earned in the fiscal year. The ESOP contributions vest in equal annual increments over a participant's first five years of service (thereafter, all subsequent ESOP contributions are fully vested).

SVB Leerink Incentive Compensation Plan

Our SVB Leerink Incentive Compensation Plan is an annual cash incentive plan that rewards performance of SVB Leerink employees based on SVB Leerink's financial results. This plan requires employees who exceed certain compensation levels to defer a portion of their compensation, of which, 25% will be settled in the form of restricted stock units and 75% will be settled in the form of cash. The deferred compensation vests over a period of up to five years.

SVB Leerink Retention Award

The SVB Leerink Retention Award is an incentive award that granted designated SVB Leerink employees restricted stock awards and cash after the close of the acquisition of SVB Leerink in January 2019. The aggregate amount of the awards was $60 million, of which 50% will be settled in the form of cash and 50% in the form of restricted stock awards. The awards vest in equal annual increments over five years.

EHOP Program

The EHOP is a benefit plan that provides for the issuance of mortgage loans to eligible employees. Eligible employees may apply for either an adjustable rate mortgage (ARM) or a fixed rate loan for their primary residence. The ARM is a 30 year loan and has an initial fixed interest rate for five, seven or ten years after which a floating rate will be set annually. The fixed rate loan program offers a 15 or 30 years loan and the interest rate is fixed for the life of the loan. Applicants must qualify for a loan through the normal mortgage review and approval process, which is typical of industry standards. The maximum loan amount generally cannot be greater than 85 percent of the lesser of the purchase price or the appraised value. The interest rate on the fixed-rate loan is written at SVB Private Bank client mortgage rates and determined at SVB's discretion. Floating rates applied at the end of the fixed-rate period will be reset annually at 12 month LIBOR plus two and one quarter percent. For additional details, see Note 9—“Loans and Allowance for Credit Losses: Loans and Unfunded Credit Commitments.''