The combination, announced Monday (Sept. 7), will see WaFd remain a publicly traded company, changing its name to EverBank Financial, and trading on the stock market under the ticker “EVBK.”
“EverBank and WaFd Bank have complementary businesses, and the combination of the two banks will bring together aligned consumer and commercial capabilities and strategies,” the announcement said.
“In recent years, both banks have pursued a common strategic shift toward commercial banking, accelerating their transition away from residential and consumer lending while further diversifying their loan portfolios.”
A report on the merger by the Wall Street Journal said the combined bank ranks among the top 50 in the U.S. in terms of assets, and comes at a time when industry executives say scale has never been more important.
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This was one of the first things the heads of the two banks discussed at a dinner to go over a possible deal, the report added.
“You’ve got to be bigger to be able to survive,” EverBank CEO Greg Seibly, who will serve as chief executive of the combined bank, told the WSJ in an interview. He added that many other banks are “staring down the same thing.”
EverBank is primarily a digital bank, with a few dozen brick and mortar locations, mostly in California and Florida. WaFd has more than 200 branches across Washington and other Western states, the WSJ report said.
“The strength on one side complements a gap on the other side,” Seibly said.
WaFd CEO Brent Beardal, who will become president of the new bank, offered more insights into what the two banks offer each other in the merger announcement.
“First, our core deposits supplement EverBank’s direct consumer online bank,” he said. “Second, our extensive commercial real estate lending expertise will enrich their robust commercial and industrial lending channels. Third, EverBank’s 28 financial centers in California add needed scale to the market to better serve our clients.”
Research by PYMNTS Intelligence has shown demand for digital banking is being driven by younger users, with 13.8% of consumers now using a digital bank as their main financial institution. Members of Gen Z, meanwhile, tend to use apps that let them meld financial tasks with shopping, communication and entertainment.
“That pattern does not reflect a preference for banks in the traditional sense,” PYMNTS wrote earlier this year. “It reflects a preference for integrated digital environments where payments, savings and spending sit within the same interface.”
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