Until relatively recently, Washington Federal (NASDAQ:WAFD)
was pretty much a thrift - residential mortgages made up a large
majority of the loan book, and the company financed those loans with a
funding mix that skewed heavily toward savings accounts and CDs. In
recent years, though, this multi-state Western regional bank has tried
to become more like larger peers such as Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC), U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB), and Umpqua (NASDAQ:UMPQ), with a turn toward more commercial lending.
I
don't like how Washington Federal has been losing deposit share in many
states, nor the already-high loan/deposit ratio. As the bank is not
very asset-sensitive, I worry that the near-term drivers for near-term
growth are relatively limited. I do believe that management is making a
good call in diversifying its loan book, but I'd like to see more
progress on accumulating lower-cost deposits and a willingness to look a
little harder for better uses of capital.
Read more here:
Washington Federal Hoping A New Model Can Drive More Growth
No comments:
Post a Comment