In May 2017, shareholders approved the establishment of the AXIS Capital Holdings Limited 2017 Long-Term Equity Compensation Plan (the "2017 Plan"). The 2017 Plan provides for, among other things, the issuance of restricted shares, restricted stock units (share-settled awards and cash-settled awards), performance units (share-settled awards and cash-settled

awards), stock options, stock appreciation rights and other equity-based awards to the Company's employees and directors. The 2017 Plan authorizes the issuance of a total of 3,400,000 common shares. On May 7, 2021, at the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders of the Company, the Company’s shareholders approved an amendment to the Company’s 2017 Plan to increase by 1,600,000 the number of common shares authorized for issuance under the Plan. The Company's 2017 Plan replaced its 2007 Long-Term Equity Compensation Plan ("2007 Plan") when it expired in May 2017. All remaining shares available for grant pursuant to the 2007 Plan have been canceled. Awards made pursuant to the 2007 Plan prior to its expiration remain in effect in accordance with the terms of the 2007 Plan. At December 31, 2022, 1,908,750 equity-based awards remained available for grant pursuant to the 2017 Plan.

The grant date fair value of share-settled restricted stock units granted pursuant to the 2017 Plan is established at the fair market value of the Company's common shares at the date of grant. These awards either cliff vest at the end of a three year period, vest in accordance with a three year graded vesting schedule in three annual installments beginning on the grant date, or vest in accordance with a four year graded vesting schedule in four annual installments beginning on the grant date.

The grant date fair value of cash-settled restricted stock units granted pursuant to the 2017 Plan is established at the fair market value of the Company's common shares at the date of grant. These awards are liability awards and generally cliff vest at the end of a three year period, or vest in accordance with a four year graded vesting schedule in four annual installments beginning on the grant date.

Performance restricted stock units granted pursuant to the 2017 Plan represent the right to receive a specified number of common shares in the future, based on the achievement of established performance criteria and continued service during the applicable performance period.

The grant date fair values of performance restricted stock units granted prior to 2021 was established at the fair market value of the Company's common shares at the date of grant.

Awards granted pursuant to the 2017 Plan generally cliff vest at the end of a three year period. Compensation expense is recognized on a straight-line basis over the applicable requisite service period. Awards granted prior to 2021 are subject to periodic adjustment based on the achievement of established performance criteria during the applicable performance period.

Grants provided under the 2017 Plan generally allow for accelerated vesting provisions on the employee’s death, permanent disability, or certain terminations following a change in control of the Company occurring within two years of the change in control event. Notwithstanding these vesting provisions, the Compensation Committee of the Company's Board of Directors has broad authority to accelerate vesting at its discretion.

In 2016, the Company established the AXIS Executive Restricted Stock Unit Retirement Plan (the "Plan") to reward certain eligible long-term employees of the Company for their dedicated service. The Plan was implemented in 2017. Subject to certain conditions being met, eligible employees do not forfeit all of their outstanding share-settled restricted stock units, share-settled performance restricted stock units or cash-settled restricted stock units on or following their retirement. Absent the Plan, outstanding restricted stock units are generally forfeited on termination of employment.

Performance restricted stock units granted in 2022 and 2021 include a market condition which is the Company’s total shareholder return relative to its peer group ("Relative TSR") over the performance period. Relative TSR is calculated in accordance with the terms of the applicable award agreement. If performance goals are achieved, these awards will cliff vest at the end of a three-year performance period within a range of 0% to 200% of target. Performance restricted stock units granted in 2022 and 2021 were share-settled awards.

Beginning share price: The beginning share price was based on the average closing share price over the 10 trading days preceding and including the start of the performance period.

Expected term: Performance for awards granted in 2022 is measured from January 1, 2022 to December 31, 2024, and performance for awards granted in 2021 is measured from January 1, 2021 to December 31, 2023.

Expected dividend yield: The expected dividend yield is not applicable to the performance restricted stock units as dividends are paid at the end of the vesting period and do not affect the value of the performance restricted stock units.

Risk-free interest rate: The risk-free rate was estimated based on the yield on a U.S. treasury zero-coupon bond issued with a remaining term equal to the vesting period of the performance restricted stock units.

Compensation expense associated with performance restricted stock units granted in 2022 and 2021 is determined on the grant date based on the fair value calculated by the Monte Carlo simulation model and is recognized on a straight-line basis over the requisite service period.

Performance restricted stock units granted in 2020 and 2019 and include a market condition which is the Company’s total shareholder return relative to its peer group ("Relative TSR") over the performance period. Relative TSR is calculated in accordance with the terms of the applicable award agreement. If performance goals are achieved, these awards will cliff vest at the end of a three-year performance period within a range of 75% to 125% of target. Performance restricted stock units granted in 2020 and 2019 were share-settled awards.

Compensation expense associated with performance restricted stock units granted in 2020 and 2019 is determined based on market value of the Company's common shares measured at the grant date, is recognized on a straight-line basis over the requisite service period and is subject to periodic adjustment based on the achievement of established performance criteria during the performance period.

Performance restricted stock units granted in 2018 included a performance condition which was growth in the Company’s book value per diluted common share adjusted for dividends over three years compared to its peer group. Growth in book value per diluted common share adjusted for dividends was calculated in accordance with the terms of the applicable award agreements. Where performance goals were achieved, these awards cliff vested at the end of the three-year performance period within a range of 0% to 200% of target. Performance restricted stock units granted in 2018 were share-settled awards.

Compensation expense associated with performance restricted stock units granted in 2018 was determined based on market value of the Company's common shares measured at the grant date. The fair value of these awards was recognized on a straight-line basis over the requisite service period and was subject to periodic adjustment based on the achievement of established performance criteria during the performance period.

The following table provides an activity summary of the Company's share-settled restricted stock units:



	Share-Settled Performance Restricted Stock Units			Share-Settled Service Restricted Stock Units
	Number of restricted stock units	Weighted average grant date fair value		Number of restricted stock units	Weighted average grant date fair value





Nonvested restricted stock units - December 31, 2020	289	$	55.92	1,501	$	56.50
Granted	122	49.04		1,250	48.04

Vested	(66)	48.89		(561)	56.42
Forfeited	(34)	55.68		(128)	53.37
Nonvested restricted stock units - December 31, 2021	311	54.75		2,062	51.59
Granted	140	68.63		993	56.09
Vested	(100)	54.70		(690)	52.67
Forfeited	(21)	62.26		(248)	53.22
Nonvested restricted stock units - December 31, 2022	330	$	60.01	2,117	$	53.16

The following table provides an activity summary of the Company's cash-settled restricted stock units:


									Cash-Settled Service Restricted Stock Units
									Number of restricted stock units

			Nonvested restricted stock units - December 31, 2020						471
			Granted						—

			Vested						(233)
			Forfeited						(23)
			Nonvested restricted stock units - December 31, 2021						215
			Granted						—
			Vested						(145)
			Forfeited						(10)
			Nonvested restricted stock units - December 31, 2022						60

The following table provides additional information related to share-based compensation:



Year ended December 31,	2022		2021		2020

Share-based compensation expense (1)	$	56,136	$	49,415	$	47,789
Tax benefits associated with share-based compensation expense	$	8,839	$	7,613	$	8,061
Liability for cash-settled restricted stock units (2)	$	4,792	$	9,091	$	13,273
Fair value of restricted stock units vested (3)	$	49,792	$	42,967	$	50,757
Unrecognized share-based compensation expense	$	74,601	$	80,805	$	74,014
Expected weighted average period associated with the recognition of unrecognized share-based compensation expense	2.3 years		2.4 years		2.4 years