Compensation Changes at SVB Financial Corp.

On Oct. 7, SVB Financial Group filed a new 8-K with the Securities and Exchange Commission to report a change in the compensation scheme for itsexecutive officers.

The changes, which took effect Oct. 1, increased the percentage of total compensation that is paid in the form of base salaries and decreased the amountpaid in variable compensation and bonuses.

SVB Financial is the holding company for Silicon Valley Bank, established in Santa Clara, Calif. in 1983. Last December,itgot$235 million in government aidthrough theTroubled Asset Relief Program, inexchange forpreferred stock and warrants.

The newfiling gets right to the point:

"Over the course of the past year, a great deal of attention has been focused on the issue of executive compensation, particularly for banks. The Compensation Committee (the 'Committee') of the Board of Directors of SVB Financial Group (the 'Company') remains committed to providing to its executives total pay levels and a mix of pay that are reasonable, appropriately reflect each executive's performance and the Company's performance, and link pay to performance without providing incentives to take unwise or inappropriate risks."

As a result of the new deals:

• Ken Wilcox, president and chief executive of SVB Financial,will see his $710,000 annual base salary rise to $1,000,000;
• Greg Becker, president of Silicon Valley Bank, will see his $425,000 annual base salary go to $700,000;
  
• Michael Descheneaux, chief financial officernow has an annual base salary of $485,000, up from $425,000; and
  
• Dave Webb, chief operations officer, has an annual base rate of $405,000, up from$375,000.
  

In deciding on the new compensation packages, SVB Financialsaid that it considered a number of issues, including"target total compensation, Company and individual performance, market pay practices" andthe executive compensation rules for TARP recipients.

The filing said that no changes were made to the incentive compensation programs because the company does not guarantee that bonuses or other types of incentive pay will be paid to its executives.

And it said that it "expects [to] make further changes to its pay structures and levels in the future" in order to make sure that its compensation programs and individual pay packages "meet the Company's objectives."

According to the company's web site, SVB Financialhas approximately 1,200 employees who work in 27 U. S. offices, as well as international offices in China, the United Kingdom, India, and Israel. As of the second quarter, it reported average assets of $10.9 billion. It specializes in lending money to companies in the tech, life sciences, and wine industries and to venture capital firms.

To date, SVB Financial has paid $5 million in dividends on the stock it issued to the government.