NOTE 13 – STOCK BASED COMPENSATION

The Company adopted the MetroCity Bankshares, Inc. 2018 Stock Option Plan (the “Prior Option Plan”) effective as of April 18, 2018, and the Prior Option Plan was approved by the Company’s shareholders on May 30, 2018. The Prior Option Plan provided for awards of stock options to officers, employees and directors of the Company. The Board of Directors of the Company determined that it was in the best interests of the Company and its shareholders’to amend and restate the Prior Option Plan to provide for the grant of additional types of awards. Acting pursuant to its authority under the Prior Option Plan, the Board of Directors approved and adopted the MetroCity Bankshares, Inc. 2018 Omnibus Incentive Plan (the “2018 Incentive Plan”), which constitutes the amended and restated version of the Prior Option Plan. The Board of Directors has reserved 2,400,000 shares of Company common stock for issuance pursuant to awards granted under the 2018 Incentive Plan, any or all of which may be granted as nonqualified stock options, incentive stock options, restricted stock, restricted stock units, performance awards and other stock-based awards. In the event all or a portion of a stock award is forfeited, cancelled, expires, or is terminated before becoming vested, paid, exercised, converted, or otherwise settled in full, any unissued or forfeited shares again become available for issuance pursuant to awards granted under the 2018 Incentive Plan and do not count against the maximum number of reserved shares. In addition, shares of common stock deducted or withheld to satisfy tax withholding obligations will be added back to the share reserve and will again be available for issuance pursuant to awards granted under the plan. The 2018 Incentive Plan is administered by the Compensation Committee of our Board of Directors (the “Committee”). The determination of award recipients under the

2018 Incentive Plan, and the terms of those awards, will be made by the Committee. At June 30, 2026, 240,000 stock options had been granted and 985,783 shares of restricted stock had been issued under the 2018 Incentive Plan.

Stock Options

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A summary of stock option activity for the six months ended June 30, 2026 presented below:

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The Company recognized no compensation expense for stock options during three and six months ended June 30, 2026 and 2025. As of June 30, 2026 and December 31, 2025, all of the cost related to the outstanding stock options had been recognized.

Restricted Stock Units

The Company has periodically issued restricted stock units to its directors, executive officers and certain employees under the 2018 Incentive Plan. Compensation expense for restricted stock is based upon the grant date fair value of the shares and is recognized over the vesting period of the units. Shares of restricted stock units issued to officers and employees vest in equal annual installments on the first three anniversaries of the grant date. Shares of restricted stock units issued to directors vest 25% on the grant date and 25% on each of the first three anniversaries of the grant date.

A summary of restricted stock activity for the six months ended June 30, 2026 is presented below:

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During the three and six months ended June 30, 2026 and 2025, the Company recognized compensation expense for restricted stock of $594,000, $599,000, $1.0 million, and $1.0 million respectively. As of June 30, 2026 and December 31, 2025, there was $2.47 million and $3.0 million, respectively, of total unrecognized compensation cost related to nonvested shares granted under the 2018 Incentive Plan. As of June 30, 2026, the cost is expected to be recognized over a weighted-average period of 2.3 years.