MFA FINANCIAL INC

On February 21, 2024, the Company entered into Amendment No. 2 (the “Knutson Amendment”) to the Amended and Restated Employment Agreement, effective as of January 1, 2021, as amended by Amendment No. 1 thereto, dated as of May 3, 2022, with Craig L. Knutson, Chief Executive Officer and President of the Company, The principal purpose of the Knutson Amendment was to clarify the treatment of outstanding equity awards in certain circumstances following a retirement of Mr. Knutson.

In addition, on February 21, 2024, the Company entered into an agreement (the “Roper Agreement”) with Michael C. Roper, the Company’s Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer, and an amended and restated agreement (the “Schwartz Agreement”) with Harold E. Schwartz, the Company’s Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary, regarding the payment of severance and other benefits to each of Mr. Roper and Mr. Schwartz in circumstances where the executive’s employment is terminated by MFA without Cause (as such term is defined in each of the Roper Agreement and the Schwartz Agreement) or he resigns for Good Reason (as such term is defined in each of the Roper Agreement and the Schwartz Agreement). Each of the Roper Agreement and the Schwartz Agreement generally provides for severance protection under these circumstances that is consistent with the severance protection provided to the Company’s other most highly compensated senior executives. More specifically, in such circumstances, subject to the applicable executive’s execution of a release of claims against MFA and its affiliates, the executive will be entitled to the following:

(A) aggregate cash equal to the greater of (i) the sum of (a) his annual base salary and (b) the median of the annual bonuses received by the executive for the three (3) preceding years and (ii) 200% of his annual base salary, which in either case will be payable to him in a lump sum not later than 60 days following the date of termination of employment; and

(B) immediate vesting of all outstanding unvested time-based equity awards; and

(C) immediate vesting in a pro-rata portion of the target value of any unvested performance-based equity awards. The pro-rata portion shall be equal to the product of (i) the target value of such award, and (ii) a fraction, the numerator of which is the number of days during the performance period that would have elapsed as of the anniversary of the date of grant of such award next following the date of termination of employment (but not beyond the end of the applicable performance period), and the denominator of which is the number of days in the performance period; and

(D) reimbursement for 100% of the COBRA premiums incurred by the Executive for himself and his eligible dependents under the Company’s health care plan during the 12-month period following the date of termination of employment; and

(E) any accrued but unpaid base salary and any other amounts earned, accrued or owing but not yet paid to the Executive and any other benefits in accordance with the terms of any applicable plans and programs of the Company.

Each of the Roper Agreement and the Schwartz Agreement will remain in effect until terminated in writing by each of MFA and the executive.

In addition, each of the Roper Agreement and the Schwartz Agreement provides that if any payments or benefits provided to the executive would constitute excess parachute payments within the meaning of Section 280G of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”), and would be subject to the excise tax imposed under Section 4999 of the Code, the payments or benefits will be reduced by the amount required to avoid the excise tax, if such reduction would give the executive a better after-tax result than if he received the full payments and benefits and paid the excise tax. Each of the agreements also contains customary confidentiality and non-solicitation covenants, as well as other terms customary for agreements applicable to senior executives.

A copy of the Knutson Amendment is filed as Exhibit 10.3 to this Form 10-K, and a copy of each of the Roper Agreement and the Schwartz Agreement is filed as Exhibit 10.8 and 10.9, respectively, to this Form 10-K. The above descriptions of the principal terms of the Knutson Amendment, the Roper Agreement and the Schwartz Agreement are summaries only and are qualified in their entirety by reference to the applicable exhibit, each of which is incorporated by reference into this Item 9B.