EXHIBIT 10.54
MORGAN STANLEY COMPENSATION
INCENTIVE PLAN
PLAN DOCUMENT
This plan document sets forth the
terms and conditions of the Morgan Stanley Compensation Incentive
Plan (“ MSCIP ” or the “
Plan ”). The Plan provides for the
establishment of Accounts for Participants, for administration
purposes only, which Accounts shall at all times represent
contingent and unsecured contractual obligations of Morgan
Stanley.
As described herein, the
Administrator may from time to time create, terminate, expand or
limit programs under the Plan with respect to certain groups of
employees and add or expand programs under the Plan for other
groups of employees. Any program under the Plan may, if the
Administrator so determines, be structured and maintained to
qualify as a Top Hat Plan. Unless otherwise noted, references
herein to MSCIP or the Plan include any program created under the
Plan from time to time.
Capitalized terms used herein
without definition have the meanings set forth in Section 19
or the applicable Award Certificate.
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1.
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Purposes
and General Provisions.
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MSCIP is a long-term incentive plan.
The Plan is intended to attract, retain and motivate employees and
to compensate them for their contributions to the Firm. The Plan
may also be used as a vehicle to increase the alignment of the
interests of certain designated employees of the Firm with the
interests of the Firm’s clients and shareholders in Firm
funds by providing for long-term incentive awards that are
notionally invested in referenced funds organized or managed by the
Firm. Subject to the terms and conditions of the Plan set forth
herein and of the applicable Award Certificate, Eligible Employees
in certain programs under the Plan may be able to express a
preference as to how they would like their Account Value to be
notionally allocated among the Notional Investments available under
the Plan for purposes of measuring the increase or decrease in the
value of their Account.
(a) Authority .
(i) Morgan Stanley is the sponsor of
the Plan. The Compensation Committee is responsible for
administering the Plan, including, without limitation, adopting
rules and procedures for determining the Notional Investments
offered, determining the terms and conditions of a
Participant’s Award or Account Value and interpreting the
Plan provisions, Award Certificates and any Descriptive Materials.
The Compensation Committee may, in its sole discretion, delegate
some or all of its authority and responsibilities under to the Plan
to a committee of the Firm or to one or more senior officers of the
Firm, such
as Morgan Stanley’s Chief
Administrative Officer, and may provide that any committee of the
Firm to which, or any senior officer of the Firm to whom, it
delegates authority to administer the Plan may further delegate
such authority to one or more officers of the Firm.
(ii) The Compensation Committee and
any committee of the Firm to which, or any officer of the Firm to
whom, authority to administer the Plan is delegated pursuant to
Section 2(a)(i), and all members of any such committee are
referred to herein, insofar as they are acting pursuant to
authority granted or delegated pursuant to the Plan, as the “
Administrator ”. Each interpretation,
determination or other action made or taken pursuant to the Plan by
the Administrator from time to time shall be made or taken in its
sole discretion and shall be final, binding and conclusive on all
persons.
(b) No Liability . The
Administrator shall not be liable for anything whatsoever in
connection with the administration of the Plan, including, without
limitation, any interpretation, determination or other action taken
or not taken in administering the Plan, except the
Administrator’s own willful misconduct. In the performance of
its functions with respect to the Plan, the Administrator shall be
entitled to rely upon information and advice furnished by the
Firm’s officers, the Firm’s accountants, the
Firm’s counsel and any other party the Administrator deems
necessary or advisable to consult, and the Administrator shall not
be liable for any interpretation, determination or other action
taken or not taken in reliance upon any such advice.
The Administrator will determine the
eligibility criteria applicable for each Award granted under the
Plan and Awards granted under any program under the Plan. In the
case of any program that is intended to qualify as a Top Hat Plan,
the Administrator may establish or adjust eligibility criteria that
in its judgment are appropriate to maintain such
qualification.
The Administrator will determine the
type and quantum of each Award. Each such determination may, in the
sole discretion of the Administrator, apply with respect to an
individual Participant, certain categories of Participants or
Participants in certain programs under the Plan.
The Administrator may permit some or
all Eligible Employees to express a preference to allocate a
portion of their compensation to MSCIP in a manner prescribed by
the Administrator. Any such allocation preferences shall be made by
a date specified by the Administrator and shall be subject to
revocation or reduction by the Administrator, provided that any
such revocation or reduction shall be made by the allocation
preference deadline applicable to the Eligible Employee unless
making such revocation or reduction at a later time would not
result in the imposition of interest or additional tax under
Section 409A.
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5.
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Vesting
and Other Terms.
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The Administrator will determine the
vesting schedule, as well as any other restrictions, applicable to
a Participant’s Account Value (which may include, without
limitation, the effects of termination of employment and
cancellation of the Account Value under specified circumstances).
The Administrator may also establish other terms and conditions
applicable to a Participant’s Account Value, including,
without limitation, the consequences of a Participant’s
death. The vesting schedule and any such other restrictions or
terms and conditions will be set forth in the applicable Award
Certificate.
(a) Credits and Charges to a
Participant’s Account . A Participant’s Award shall
be credited to the Participant’s Account as of a date
determined by the Administrator. A Participant’s Account
shall also be credited (or debited) with returns (or losses) on the
Participant’s Notional Investments following the date on
which the Participant’s Awards are credited. A
Participant’s Account Value shall be reduced to reflect any
distributions to the Participant or any of the Participant’s
Beneficiaries.
(b) Notional Allocation
Parameters .
(i) The Administrator will establish
rules for how a Participant’s Account Value shall be
notionally allocated among the available Notional Investments.
These rules may vary for certain categories of Participants or
Participants in certain programs under the Plan. The Administrator
may determine that, for certain categories of Participants or
Participants in certain programs under the Plan, the entire Account
Value will be notionally allocated to a single Notional Investment
or notionally allocated in fixed percentages among two or more
referenced Notional Investments. The Administrator may also
determine for certain categories of Participants, or Participants
in certain programs under the Plan, minimum and/or maximum
percentages of their Account Value that must be notionally
allocated to referenced Notional Investments. The notional
allocation requirements applicable to a Participant will be
communicated to the Participant by means of the applicable Award
Certificate or the Descriptive Materials or through such other
means of communication as the Administrator may select.
(ii) To the extent that the notional
allocation rules established by the Administrator permit a
Participant to request changes to the notional allocation of all or
a portion of the Participant’s Account Value among the
Notional Investments then available under the Plan, any such
request shall be made in accordance with procedures and at such
times as established by the Administrator from time to time. In
this regard, it is noted specifically that the Administrator may
determine, and may change from time to time, (i) the frequency
of permitted notional reallocations and (ii) the minimum
percentage of the Account Value that is required, and the maximum
percentage of the Account Value that is permitted,
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to be notionally allocated to one or
more Notional Investments, and, in each case, such changes may
apply to existing as well as future notional allocations to
Notional Investments. Without limiting the generality of the
preceding sentence, the Administrator may make changes in order,
among other things, to reflect limitations or restrictions that
would apply to actual investors in the Referenced Funds. No
notional reallocation that a Participant requests shall be honored
to the extent that it would conflict with the minimum and/or
maximum notional allocation requirements that the Administrator may
establish from time to time.
(c) Notional Allocations
Generally . The notional allocation of a Participant’s
Account Value will remain at the ultimate discretion of the Firm
and will be made exclusively for the purpose of determining the
Participant’s Account Value from time to time in accordance
with the Plan. Participant Accounts will not be invested in the
Referenced Funds, and Participants will not become direct investors
in any of the Referenced Funds by virtue of their participation in
the Plan.
(d) Determination of Account
Value . The Administrator shall from time to time calculate
each Participant’s Account Value based on the
Participant’s Awards and the deemed notional allocation of
the Participant’s Account among the Notional Investments
available to the Participant. Subject to the terms and conditions
of the Plan, the rate of return of any Notional Investment over the
relevant measurement period will track the performance of the
relevant Referenced Fund. Calculation of the Participant’s
Account Value as of any given date will be based on the information
available to the Administrator as of the date of determination,
which information may include estimates, and, where information
about a specific Notional Investment is not available to the
Administrator, may be based on information, including estimates,
relating to other investment vehicles that the Administrator
determines to be reasonably similar to the Notional Investment in
question. Following the commencement of distribution of a
Participant’s Account Value to the Participant, the
Administrator shall continue to calculate the Participant’s
Account Value from time to time in the manner described above,
taking into account distributions from the Participant’s
Account. The Firm’s valuation of a Participant’s
Account Value shall be conclusive and binding.
(e) Selection of Notional
Investments; Conflicts of Interest .
(i) The Administrator shall choose
the Notional Investments available under the Plan. The Notional
Investments available from time to time will be indicated on the
Executive Compensation Department website or through other means
that the Administrator shall determine and communicate to
Participants from time to time. The Firm may provide a Participant
with a description of the Referenced Funds and their historical
returns; provided , however , that the Firm shall not
be responsible for the accuracy of any such description that the
Firm obtains from a Referenced Fund or a party acting on its behalf
or bases on information obtained from a Referenced Fund or a party
acting on its behalf. Under no circumstances will the Firm be
responsible for actions, statements or performance of any
Referenced Fund.
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(ii) The Administrator may choose
the Notional Investments available under the Plan based on a
variety of factors, which may include, without limitation, the
Firm’s own business interests and its relations with the
Referenced Funds or parties affiliated with the Referenced Funds.
Participants should be aware of the existence of actual and
potential conflicts of interest with the Firm and are considered to
waive any claim with respect to the existence of any conflict of
interest. The Administrator may require each Participant to
affirmatively make such acknowledgment and waiver.
(iii) The performance of each
Notional Investment shall reflect all of the fees and costs of the
Referenced Fund, including, without limitation, brokerage and other
fees, which the Referenced Fund may pay to the Firm if the Firm
provides certain services to the Referenced Fund. The Firm may also
act as the investment advisor or provide other services to the
Referenced Fund and receive fees for providing these services. Fees
paid by a Referenced Fund will reduce the performance of the
Referenced Fund (and accordingly the performance of the Notional
Investment) and, therefore, will reduce the Firm’s payment
obligations to Participants under the Plan.
(f) Right to Change Notional
Investments and Notional Allocations Thereto . The
Administrator may, from time to time in its sole discretion, change
the Notional Investments available to Participants or notionally
allocate a Participant’s Account to different Notional
Investments than those requested by the Participant. Among other
things, this means that the Firm has the absolute right to replace
a Participant’s Notional Investments with different Notional
Investments and/or impose additional investment conditions and
restrictions on the Notional Investments (including restrictions on
a Participant’s ability to notionally allocate into, or
notionally reallocate away from, a Notional Investment). Nothing in
this plan document, any Award