ENCORE CAPITAL GROUP INC (ECPG)

Sector: Financials

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2026 Annual Meeting Analysis

ENCORE CAPITAL GROUP INC · Meeting: June 12, 2026

Policy v1.2high confidenceView Filing ↗
For informational purposes only. This AI-generated analysis applies a published voting policy to publicly available proxy filings. It does not constitute investment advice, proxy voting advice, or a solicitation of any kind. AI analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate — always review the actual filing and make your own independent decision.

Directors FOR

8

Directors AGAINST

0

Say on Pay

FOR

Auditor

FOR

Director Elections

Election of Directors

8 FOR
✓ FOR
Michael P. Monaco

Long-tenured director (since 2014) with strong financial services and CFO background; ECPG's 3-year total return of +58.8% vs. peer median of +60.6% is only -1.8pp below the peer median, well within the 65pp threshold required to trigger a vote against for strong-positive absolute TSR, so no TSR concern applies.

✓ FOR
William C. Goings

Director since September 2022 (less than 24 months at the time of the 3-year measurement window start), bringing insurance and financial services leadership experience; the TSR trigger does not apply and no other policy concerns are identified.

✓ FOR
Ashwini (Ash) Gupta

Director since 2015 with deep credit risk and information management experience from American Express; the 3-year TSR gap of -1.8pp vs. peer median is far below the 65pp threshold needed to trigger a vote against, and no other policy concerns are identified.

✓ FOR
Jeffrey A. Hilzinger

Director since 2019 with extensive CEO and financial services experience; the 3-year TSR gap vs. the peer median is only -1.8pp, well within the 65pp policy threshold, and no overboarding, attendance, or independence concerns are identified.

✓ FOR
Angela A. Knight

Director since 2019 with substantial international financial services and regulatory experience; no TSR trigger fires given the -1.8pp gap vs. the peer median against a 65pp threshold, and attendance and independence standards are met.

✓ FOR
Laura Newman Olle

Director since 2014 with enterprise risk management and technology expertise from Capital One and Freddie Mac; the 3-year TSR gap is immaterial relative to the 65pp policy threshold, and no other policy concerns are identified.

✓ FOR
Richard P. Stovsky

Director since 2018 and a certified public accountant with extensive audit experience from PricewaterhouseCoopers, making him well-suited as the audit committee financial expert; the TSR trigger does not fire and no other concerns apply.

✓ FOR
Ashish Masih

CEO and director since 2017; ECPG's 3-year return of +58.8% is only -1.8pp below the peer median, far within the 65pp threshold for strong-positive absolute TSR, so the TSR trigger does not apply to him as an executive director either.

All eight director nominees pass the policy screens: ECPG's 3-year total return of +58.8% is only 1.8 percentage points below the disclosed compensation peer group median of +60.6%, well within the 65-percentage-point underperformance threshold required to trigger a vote against for a company with strong positive absolute TSR. No overboarding, attendance below 75%, independence violations, familial relationships with management, or other policy flags are identified for any nominee.

Say on Pay

✓ FOR

CEO

Ashish Masih

Total Comp

$8,106,453

Prior Support

98%%

CEO Ashish Masih received total compensation of $8,106,453, which is reasonable for the CEO of a $1.7 billion financial services company given strong 2025 operating performance including record Adjusted EBITDA of $677 million (130% of target) and a 13.7% return on invested capital. The compensation program is well-structured for pay-for-performance alignment: approximately 87% of the CEO's target pay is variable and tied to measurable financial and operational outcomes, including annual EBITDA targets, multi-year return on capital goals, and relative total shareholder return versus the S&P SmallCap 600 Financial Sector Index — and the 2023 TSR performance stock awards correctly paid out at zero because the company ranked at the 21st percentile below the vesting threshold, demonstrating the program works as intended. Prior-year say-on-pay support was approximately 98%, the company has a meaningful clawback policy, and no policy red flags are triggered.

Auditor Ratification

✓ FOR

Auditor

BDO USA, P.C.

Tenure

N/A

Audit Fees

$3,349,669

Non-Audit Fees

$0

BDO USA, P.C. charged $3,349,669 in audit fees with zero non-audit fees in 2025, producing a non-audit fee ratio of 0%, well below the 50% threshold that would raise independence concerns. BDO is a large national firm appropriate for a $1.7 billion market cap company. Auditor tenure is not disclosed in the proxy, so the tenure trigger cannot fire per policy, and no material restatements are noted.

Overall Assessment

ECPG's 2026 annual meeting ballot is clean across all standard proposals: all eight director nominees pass the TSR and governance screens, the auditor has zero non-audit fees, and the CEO compensation program is well-designed with strong pay-for-performance features and 98% prior-year shareholder support. The two non-standard board proposals — an equity plan amendment and an officer exculpation charter change — are routine governance items with no significant shareholder concerns.

Filing date: April 29, 2026·Policy v1.2·high confidence

Compensation Peer Group

16 companies disclosed in 2026 proxy filing

CACCCredit Acceptance Corporation
CSGSCSG Systems International, Inc.
ENVAEnova International, Inc.
PLUSePlus Inc
FCFSFirstCash Holdings, Inc.
GDOTGreen Dot Corporation
LCLendingClub
TREELendingTree
NAVINavient Corporation
NNINelnet, Inc.
PRAAPRA Group, Inc.
PRGPROG Holdings
SLMSLM
WDWalker & Dunlop, Inc.
WEXWEX
WRLDWorld Acceptance Corporation