Business Description

WaFd Bank, a federally-insured Washington state chartered commercial bank formerly known as Washington Federal Bank (the "Bank" or "WaFd Bank"), was founded on April 24, 1917 in Ballard, Washington and is engaged primarily in providing lending, depository, insurance and other banking services to consumers, small, mid-sized and large businesses, and owners and developers of commercial real estate. Effective September 25, 2025, the Bank formally changed its name from Washington Federal Bank to WaFd Bank by filing its Second Amended and Restated Articles of Incorporation with the Washington Secretary of State. WaFd, Inc., a Washington corporation, was formed as the Bank’s holding company in November, 1994. As used throughout this document, the terms "WaFd," the "Company" or "we" or "us" and "our" refer to WaFd, Inc. and its consolidated subsidiaries, and the term "Bank" or "WaFd Bank" refers to its bank operating subsidiary. The Company is headquartered in Seattle, Washington. On November 9, 1982 the Company listed and began trading on the NASDAQ. Profitable operations have been recorded every year since going public. As of September 30, 2025 , the stock traded at 82 times its original 1982 offering price, has paid 170 consecutive quarterly cash dividends and has returned 14,253% total shareholder return to those who invested 43 years ago. On February 29, 2024, WaFd, Inc. closed its merger with Luther Burbank Corporation ("Luther Burbank" or "LBC"), a California corporation, effective as of 12:00am on March 1, 2024. Pursuant to the Merger Agreement, at the Effective Time Luther Burbank merged with and into the Company (the “Corporate Merger”), with the Company surviving the Corporate Merger. Promptly following the Corporate Merger, Luther Burbank’s wholly-owned bank subsidiary, Luther Burbank Savings, merged with and into WaFd Bank with WaFd Bank as the surviving institution (the “Bank Merger”). The Corporate Merger and the Bank Merger are collectively referred to in this Annual Report on Form 10-K as the “Merger.” The Merger added approximately $7.7 billion of LBC assets at fair value to the Company's balance sheet, and the Company assumed $50,175,000 in floating rate junior subordinated debentures, due June 2036 and June 2037, and $93,514,000 in 6.5% senior unsecured term notes which matured and were paid off on September 30, 2024. The Merger expanded WaFd Bank's footprint to nine western states with the addition of ten California branches of Luther Burbank. The Company's fiscal year end is September 30th. All references herein to 2025 , 2024 and 2023 represent balances as of September 30, 2025 , September 30, 2024 and September 30, 2023 , respectively, or activity for the fiscal years then ended. The business of the Bank consists primarily of accepting deposits from the general public and investing these funds in loans of various types, including construction loans, land acquisition and development loans, loans on multi-family, commercial real estate and other income producing properties, and business loans, including U.S. Small Business Administration (“SBA”) loans. In January, 2025, the Bank announced it will no longer originate consumer single family home loans and home equity lines of credit. Our existing consumer home loans still make up a significant portion of our loan portfolio. The Bank also invests in certain United States government and agency obligations and other investments permitted by applicable laws and regulations. As of September 30, 2025 , WaFd Bank has 208 branches located in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Arizona, Utah, Nevada, New Mexico, California and Texas. The Bank delivers its financial products and services to customers through both its branch network and digital channels, including its website and mobile banking application (information contained on our website and mobile application are not incorporated by reference into this Annual Report on Form 10-K). The Company is also engaged in insurance brokerage activities through the Bank’s subsidiary, WaFd Insurance Group, Inc., and wealth management products and services through WaFd Wealth, Inc., a subsidiary of the Company. The principal sources of funds for the Company's activities are retained earnings, loan repayments, net deposit inflows, borrowings and repayments and sales of investments. WaFd's principal sources of revenue are interest on loans and interest and dividends on investments.…