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Exhibit
10(u)
FLEET FINANCIAL GROUP,
INC.
EXECUTIVE DEFERRED
COMPENSATION PLAN NO. 2
(1997
Restatement)
ARTICLE 1.
INTRODUCTION
Fleet Financial Group, Inc.
hereby amends, restates and continues the Fleet Financial Group,
Inc. Executive Deferred Compensation Plan No. 2 effective as of
December 17, 1997. The original effective date of the Plan is
January 1, 1992. The Company established the Plan to attract,
retain and motivate certain of its key employees, as well as those
of its subsidiaries and affiliates, by providing them with the
opportunity to defer receipt of certain amounts of compensation.
The Plan is intended to be “a plan which is unfunded and is
maintained by an employer primarily for the purpose of providing
deferred compensation for a select group of management or highly
compensated employees” within the meaning of sections 201(2),
301(a)(3) and 401(a)(1) of ERISA, and shall be administered in a
manner consistent with that intent.
ARTICLE 2. DEFINITIONS
As used herein, the masculine
pronoun shall include the feminine gender, and the singular shall
include the plural, and the plural, the singular, and the following
terms shall have the following meanings unless a different meaning
is clearly required by the context.
“ Account
” means the separate account for a Participant established
pursuant to Section 7.1, which may pass to a Beneficiary pursuant
to Article 9.
“ Beneficiary
” means a beneficiary designated in accordance with Article
9.
“ Change of
Control ” is defined in Schedule A to the Trust
Agreement.
“ Committee
” means the Human Resources and Planning Committee, or any
successor committee, of the Board of Directors of the
Company.
“ Company
” means Fleet Financial Group, Inc.
“ Deferral
Compensation ” is defined in Section 5.1.
“ Deferral Date
” is defined in Section 8.2.
“ Deferrals
” means Deferral Compensation credited to a
Participant’s Account during a calendar year as a result of a
Participant’s elections pursuant to Section 5.2, plus, except
where the context otherwise requires, amounts attributable (
i.e. , credited interest) to amounts deferred during such
calendar year. Depending upon the context, “Deferrals”
may mean Deferrals for a single calendar year or for two or more
calendar years.
“ Employer
” means the Company and its subsidiaries and
affiliates.
“ ERISA ”
means the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of
1974.
“ Participant
” means an executive who is selected to participate in the
Plan, and who elects to participate in the Plan, in accordance with
Article 4.
“ Plan ”
means the Fleet Financial Group, Inc. Executive Deferred
Compensation Plan No. 2 as set forth herein and in all subsequent
amendments hereto.
“ Trust ”
means the trust established under the Trust Agreement.
“ Trust
Agreement ” means the Trust Agreement for Executive
Deferred Compensation Plans No. 1 and 2 dated as of June 19, 1996,
as subsequently amended, or any successor trust agreement, as in
effect from time to time.
“ Trustee
” means the trustee of the Trust.
“ Vested ”
is defined in Section 8.5.
ARTICLE 3.
ADMINISTRATION
3.1 Committee .
The Plan shall be administered by the Committee. The Committee
shall have full discretionary authority to interpret the provisions
of the Plan and decide all questions and settle all disputes which
may arise in connection with the Plan, and may establish its own
operative and administrative rules and procedures in connection
therewith, provided such
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procedures are consistent with the
requirements of section 503 of ERISA and the regulations
thereunder. All interpretations, decisions and determinations made
by the Committee shall be binding on all persons concerned. No
action of the Committee may reduce the amount of a
Participant’s Account below the amount of such Account
immediately before such action. No member of the Committee who is a
Participant in the Plan may vote or otherwise participate in any
decision or act with respect to a matter relating solely to himself
(or to his Beneficiaries).
3.2 Delegation by
Committee . Except as the Committee may otherwise provide
by written resolution, the Committee delegates its duties and
responsibilities under Section 3 with respect to non-executive
officers (except for the duty to establish eligibility criteria
under Article 4) to the Director of Corporate Human Resources, who
may further delegate certain of such duties and responsibilities to
other officers of the Company. For purposes of the Plan, any action
taken by any such delegate pursuant to such delegation shall be
considered to have been taken by the Committee.
3.3 Indemnification
. The Company agrees to indemnify and to defend to the fullest
possible extent permitted by law any member of the Committee and
any delegatee (including any person who formerly served as a member
of the Committee or as a delegatee) against all liabilities,
damages, costs and expenses (including attorneys’ fees and
amounts paid in settlement of any claims approved by the Company)
occasioned by any act or omission to act in connection with the
Plan, if such act or omission is in good faith.
ARTICLE 4. SELECTION OF
PARTICIPANTS
The Committee shall select,
or shall establish the applicable criteria for determining, the
employees of the Company or its subsidiaries or affiliates who are
eligible to participate in the Plan. When an executive has been
selected to participate in the Plan, he will be notified by
the
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Committee and given the opportunity to
elect to defer compensation under the Plan. An executive who makes
such an election is hereinafter referred to as a
“Participant.”
ARTICLE 5. DEFERRAL OF
COMPENSATION
5.1 Deferral
Compensation . From time to time the Committee shall
establish if or to what extent base salary or bonuses under one or
more incentive bonus programs may be deferred under the Plan
(“Deferral Compensation”).
5.2 Deferral
Elections . For each calendar year, a Participant may
irrevocably elect, in accordance with this Article and Article 8,
to defer receipt of all or part of his Deferral Compensation for
the year in which such Compensation would ’ otherwise be paid; provided, however, that
unless the Committee consents, such deferred amount for the year
may not be less than $10,000. A Participant’s election to
defer base salary, if base salary is includable in Deferral
Compensation at such time, must be made on or before December 15
for base salary payable in the succeeding calendar year. A
Participant’s election to defer an incentive award, if the
incentive award is includable in Deferral Compensation at such
time, must be made prior to the time the amount of the award is
determined under the applicable incentive award program and, in any
event, prior to December 15 of the year for which the incentive
award performance is determined. In the case of a Participant who
becomes employed and eligible for the Plan during the same calendar
year, the elections described in this Article may be made no later
than 30 days following his first day of eligibility. The Committee
may, in unusual circumstances, extend the foregoing December 15
deadlines to no later than December 31 if it concludes that such
action is necessary to permit Participants a reasonable make
deferral decisions.
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ARTICLE 6. INTEREST EQUIVALENT
FACTOR
6.1 In General
. From time to time the Committee shall determine annual
interest equivalent factors that apply to Deferrals made in each
calendar year. The Committee may determine different interest
equivalent factors for Deferrals made in different calendar years,
and except as otherwise provided herein, the Committee may change
each year the interest equivalent factor applicable to Deferrals
made in a specified calendar year. Except as otherwise provided in
Sections 6.2 and 6.3, the annual interest equivalent factor for
Vested Participants for Deferrals prior to 1998 shall be 12
percent. Except as otherwise provided with respect to a Change in
Control, the annual interest equivalent factors for Deferrals after
1997 may be changed from time to time by the Committee. Unless the
Committee decides otherwise, with respect to Deferrals for each
calendar year, the annual interest equivalent factors applicable
during the period after termination of employment for Participants
who are Vested pursuant to Section 8.5(c) shall be 400 basis points
less than the factors applicable during the same period for Vested
Participants who are employees. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the
annual interest equivalent factors applicable to a
Participant’s Deferrals (i) at the time of the
Participant’s death shall continue to apply until the
Participant’s Account is entirely distributed and (ii) shall
be consistent with any severance or other agreement between the
Company and the Participant.
6.2 Prior to Five Years
of Participation . The annual interest equivalent factors
applied to Deferrals of a Participant who terminates employment
with the Employer less than five years from the date that Deferrals
of the Participant are first credited under the Plan (or, if
earlier, are first credited under the Fleet Financial Group, Inc.
Executive Deferred Compensation Plan No. 1) shall be determined in
accordance with the schedule below, unless, prior to termination of
employment: (i) the Participant becomes Vested; or (ii) the
Participant dies.
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Year of
Participation
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Basis points subtracted from
the declared annual
interest
equivalent
factors
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1st Year
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500 |
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2nd Year
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400 |
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3rd Year
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300 |
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4th Year
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200 |
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5th Year
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100 |
After the Participant has five years of
participation in the Plan, the value of the Participant’s
Account shall be redetermined by disregarding the preceding
provisions of Section 6.2, so that the declared annual interest
equivalent factors applicable to Vested Participants during the
deferral period are applied retroactively to the respective initial
Deferral Dates.
6.3 During Distribution
or Upon Change of Control . The annual interest equivalent
factors applied to Deferrals of a Participant following
commencement (by the Participant or his Beneficiary) of annual
installment distributions shall be fixed at the interest equivalent
factors applied to the Participant ’ s Deferrals immediately prior to the
commencement of annual installment distributions. Following a
Change of Control, the annual interest equivalent factors applied
to Deferrals of a Participant shall not be less than the highest
annual interest equivalent factors applicable to Deferrals of the
Participant prior to the Change of Control (determined without
regard to Section 6.2).
ARTICLE 7. PARTICIPANT
ACCOUNTS
7.1 Establishment of
Accounts . The Committee shall establish a separate Account
for each Participant reflecting the amounts due the Participant
under the Plan and shall cause the Company to establish on its
books Accounts reflecting the Company’s obligation to pay
Participants the amounts due under the Plan.
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7.2 Adjustments to
Accounts . From time to time the Committee shall adjust
each Participant’s Account to credit (i) amounts which the
Participant has elected to defer under Article 5 and (ii) amounts
based on the annual interest equivalent factors determined under
Article 6. A Participant’s Account shall also be adjusted to
reflect benefit payments and withdrawals under Article 8. A
Participant’s Account shall continue to be adjusted under
this Article 7 until the entire amount credited to the Account has
been paid to the Participant or his Beneficiary.
ARTICLE 8. DISTRIBUTION OF
BENEFITS
8.1 Following
Termination of Employment .
(a) At the time an executive
becomes a Participant, or, if later, by December 28, 1998, the
Participant shall elect the manner in which his entire Account
(other than amounts distributed prior to termination of employment
pursuant to the Participant’s election under Section 8.2,
8.3, or 8.4) is to be distributed, from among the following
options:
(1) (1) A lump sum
(i) upon termination of
employment (including termination due to retirement); or
(ii) at a future date, not
before termination of employment, but by age 65 or immediately
following termination, whichever is later.
(2) In up to 15 annual
installments, commencing:
(i) immediately upon
termination of employment; or
(ii) at a future date, not
before termination of employment, but by age 65 or immediately
following termination, whichever is later.
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Notwithstanding the foregoing, a
Participant must be Vested when his employment terminates or he
will receive his entire Account in a lump sum at termination. A
Participant who has elected to receive payment at a time and in a
form described in this Section 8.1(a) may change such election at
any time up to 12 months prior to the date of his termination of
employment. A changed election made in the 12-month period prior to
his termination of employment is not valid and has no
effect.
(b) Notwithstanding Section
8.1(a), in the event a Participant is not Vested at the time of
termination of employment, or if the value of a Participant’s
Account is equal to or less than $10,000 as of the date of
termination of employment, or if the Participant has not made an
election in accordance with Section 8.1(a), the Participant’s
Account shall be fully distributed in a lump sum as soon as
practicable following termination of employment.
(c) Notwithstanding anything
in this Plan to the contrary, for a Vested Participant who
terminates employment before January 1, 2000, an election may be
made at any time prior to termination of employment to defer
receipt beyond termination of employment or to receive installment
payments, but such election is effective only with the written
consent of the Committee.
8.2 In-Service
Distribution Upon a Specified Date . At the time of a
deferral election in accordance with Article 5, a Participant may
irrevocably elect to receive payment in a lump sum of a selected
amount or percentage of the total amounts deferred pursuant to such
election (and interest credited thereto in accordance with Article
6) at a specified date (“Deferral Date”). Such election
shall be effective only if the Participant is an employee of the
Employer on the Deferral Date.
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8.3 Financial Hardship
Distribution . In the event a Participant suffers an
unanticipated emergency due to circumstances beyond his control
that results in a financial hardship, the Participant may request a
distribution of all or any part of his Account. The Committee shall
determine whether such a financial hardship exists and what amount,
if any, may be distributed. In no event shall the aggregate amount
of the distribution exceed either the value of the
Participant’s Account or the amount determined by the
Committee to be necessary to alleviate the Participant’s
financial hardship (such hardship amount may include taxes owed
because of such distribution) and that is not reasonably available
from other resources of the Participant.
8.4 Withdrawals
. Subject to a Withdrawal Penalty (as hereinafter defined), a
Participant may elect under this Section 8.4, at any time prior to
the time that an amount in his Account would otherwise be paid, to
withdraw in a single lump sum payment all or a specified portion of
the balance of his or her Account in accordance with procedures
established by the Committee. Such withdrawals shall be reduced by
a percentage of the total amount requested, which shall be
forfeited by the Participant. Such percentage shall be equal to the
annual interest equivalent factor that applies to Deferrals made
during the calendar year of such withdrawal election, increased by
three percentage points (“Withdrawal Penalty”);
provided, however, that such Withdrawal Penalty may never be less
than 10 percent. No Withdrawal Penalty shall apply to a withdrawal
or distribution made in accordance with Section 8.1, 8.2 or
8.3.
8.5 Vesting . A
Participant sh
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