Description of the Companys Securities Registered Pursuant to Section 12 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934

    

Wintrust Financial Corporation (the “Company,” “we,” “us” or “our”) has two securities registered pursuant to Section 12 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934: (i) our common stock, and (ii) our Fixed-to-Floating Non-Cumulative Perpetual Preferred Stock, Series D, which we refer to as series D preferred. Our common stock is listed on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol “WTFC.” Our series D preferred is listed on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol “WTFCM.”

The summaries and descriptions below do not purport to be complete and are qualified in all respects by reference to certain provisions of Illinois law, including the Illinois Business Corporation Act (the “IBCA”), as well as our amended and restated articles of incorporation, our by-laws and the certificate of designations for the series D preferred (in each case, as may be amended from time to time, our “articles of incorporation,” our “bylaws” and the “series D certificate,” respectively), each of which have been filed as exhibits to the Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission to which this exhibit is attached and are hereby incorporated by reference.

Under our articles of incorporation, we have the authority to issue 100 million shares of common stock, without par value, and 20 million shares of preferred stock, without par value (5,000,000 of which are designated as shares of our series D preferred). We may issue shares of any series of preferred stock that we have designated or that we may designate and issue in the future, which may include, without limitation, shares of our preferred stock that are convertible into other securities of the Company. Under our articles of incorporation, our board of directors has the authority to issue preferred stock in one or more classes or series, and to fix for each class or series the voting powers and the distinctive designations, preferences and relative, participation, optional or other special rights and such qualifications, limitations or restrictions, as may be stated and expressed in the resolution or resolutions adopted by the board of directors providing for the issuance of such class or series as may be permitted by the IBCA, including dividend rates, conversion rights, terms of redemption and liquidation preferences and the number of shares constituting each such class or series, without any further vote or action by our shareholders.

The rights, preferences and privileges of holders of our common stock are subject to, and may be adversely affected by, the rights of the holders of shares of any series of our preferred stock, including the series D preferred, and any series of preferred stock that we may designate and issue in the future.

Voting Rights. Each holder of our common stock is entitled to one vote for each share held on all matters submitted to a vote of shareholders and does not have cumulative voting rights. Accordingly, holders of a majority of the shares of our common stock entitled to vote in any election of directors of the Company may elect all of the directors standing for election.

Dividend Rights. The holders of our common stock are entitled to receive dividends, if and when declared payable by our board of directors from any funds legally available for the payment of dividends, subject to any preferential dividend rights of our outstanding preferred stock, including the series D preferred.

Liquidation Rights. Upon the liquidation, dissolution or winding up of the Company, the holders of our common stock are entitled to share pro rata in our net assets available after the payment of all debts and other liabilities and subject to the prior rights of any outstanding preferred stock of the Company, including the series D preferred.

Absence of Other Rights. Under our articles of incorporation, the holders of our common stock have no preemptive, subscription, redemption or conversion rights.

Dividends. Non-cumulative dividends on the series D preferred are payable quarterly in arrears if, when and as declared by our board of directors, at a rate of 6.50% per year from the original issuance date to, but excluding, July 15, 2025, and from (and including) that date at a floating rate equal to three-month LIBOR plus a spread of 4.06% per year on the liquidation preference of $25 per share. With certain limited exceptions, if we do not pay full cash dividends on the series D preferred for the most recently completed dividend period, we may not pay dividends on, repurchase, redeem or make a liquidation payment with respect to, our common stock or other stock ranking junior to the series D preferred. Our series D preferred may be redeemed (i) in whole or in part, from time to time, on any dividend payment date on or after July 15, 2025, or (ii) in whole but not in part, at any time within 90 days following a Regulatory Capital Treatment Event (as defined in the certificate of designations for the series D preferred), in each case at a redemption price equal to $25 per share, plus any declared and unpaid dividends, without accumulation of any undeclared dividends to, but excluding, the redemption date.

Conversion. Holders of our series D preferred shall not have any rights to convert shares of our series D preferred into, or exchange shares of our series D preferred for, shares of any other class of capital stock of the Company.

Reorganization Events and Fundamental Transactions. If the Company liquidates, dissolves or winds-up, either voluntarily or involuntarily, holders of series D preferred shall be entitled to receive a liquidating distribution of $25 per share of series D preferred, plus any declared and unpaid dividends thereon (without accumulation of any undeclared dividends) to and including the date of such liquidation, out of assets legally available for distribution to shareholders of the Company, before the Company makes any distribution of assets to the holders of our common stock or any other class or series of shares of junior stock. Distributions will be made pro rata as to our series D preferred and any other parity stock and only to the extent of the Company’s assets, if any, that are available after satisfaction of all liabilities to creditors and subject to the rights of holders of any securities ranking senior to our series D preferred and any other parity stock.

Voting Rights. Holders of our series D preferred generally do not have any voting rights, except as required by law. However, we may not amend our articles of incorporation in a manner adverse to the rights of the holders of our series D preferred, issue capital stock ranking senior to the series D preferred or take certain other actions without the approval of the holders of the series D preferred. In addition, holders of series D preferred, together with the holders of other parity securities having similar voting rights, may elect two directors if we have not paid dividends on our series D preferred for six or more quarterly dividend periods, whether or not consecutive. Holders of series D preferred shall have one vote per share on any matter in which holders of series D preferred are entitled to vote.

Certain provisions of our articles of incorporation, our by-laws, Illinois law and certain applicable banking regulations may have the effect of impeding the acquisition of control of the Company by means of a tender offer, a proxy fight, open-market purchases or otherwise in a transaction not approved by our board of directors.

These provisions may have the effect of discouraging a future takeover attempt that is not approved by our board of directors but which our individual shareholders may deem to be in their best interests or in which our shareholders may receive a substantial premium for their shares over then-current market prices. As a result, shareholders who might desire to participate in such a transaction may not have an opportunity to do so. Such provisions will also render the removal of our current board of directors or management more difficult.

These provisions of our articles of incorporation and our by-laws include the following:

of preferred stock, such as voting rights, conversion rates and liquidation preferences. As a result of the ability to fix voting rights for a series of preferred stock, our board has the power, to the extent consistent with its fiduciary duty, to issue a series of preferred stock to persons friendly to management in order to attempt to block a merger or other transaction by which a third party seeks control, and thereby assist the incumbent board of directors and management to retain their respective positions;

Such fair price standards require that the fair market value per share of the consideration offered be equal to or greater than the higher of:

For purposes of Section 7.85, disinterested director means any member of the board of directors of the corporation who:

The amendment of our articles of incorporation must be approved by a majority vote of the board of directors and also by a two-thirds vote of the outstanding shares of our common stock; provided, however, that an affirmative vote of at least 85% of the outstanding voting stock entitled to vote is required to amend or repeal certain provisions of the articles of incorporation, including provisions (a) prohibiting cumulative voting rights, (b) relating to certain business combinations, (c) limiting the shareholders' ability to act by written consent, (d) regarding the minimum number of directors, (e) regarding indemnification of directors and officers by the Company and limitation of liability for directors and (f) regarding amendment of the foregoing supermajority provisions of our articles of incorporation. Our by-laws provide that the power to make, alter, amend, or repeal the by-laws shall be vested in the shareholders or the board of directors by a resolution adopted by a majority of the board of directors.

The provisions described above are intended to reduce our vulnerability to takeover attempts and certain other transactions that have not been negotiated with and approved by members of our board of directors.

The ability of a third party to acquire the Company is also limited under applicable banking regulations. The Bank Holding Company Act of 1956, or the Bank Holding Company Act, requires any “bank holding company” (as defined in such Act) to obtain the approval of the Federal Reserve prior to acquiring more than 5% of our outstanding common stock. Any person other than a bank holding company is required to obtain prior approval of the Federal Reserve to acquire 10% or more of our outstanding common stock under the Change in Bank Control Act of 1978. Any holder of 25% or more of our outstanding common stock, other than an individual, is subject to regulation as a bank holding company under the Bank Holding Company Act. For purposes of calculating ownership thresholds under these banking regulations, bank regulators would likely at least take the position that the minimum number of shares, and could take the position that the maximum number of shares, of our common stock that a holder is entitled to receive pursuant to securities convertible into or settled in our common stock, including pursuant to our warrants to purchase common stock held by such holder, must be taken into account in calculating a shareholder's aggregate holdings of our common stock.