Washington Federal Savings

Washington Federal Savings is the savings and loan subsidiary of Washington Federal, Inc., a bank holding company based in Seattle, Washington that trades on the NASDAQ under the symbol WFSL. It has operations in Washington, Idaho, Oregon, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and Texas.

Founded on April 24, 1917 as Ballard Savings and Loan, it kept the name of Bothell's Washington Federal Savings and Loan after merging with it in 1958. WFSL demutualized in 1982, and the present holding company structure was adopted in 1995.

Mergers and acquisitions subsequent to 1958 include the following:

• Seattle Federal Savings and Loan, Seattle, WA, 1971
• First Federal Savings and Loan Association, Mt. Vernon, WA, 1978
• United First Federal, Boise, ID, 1987
• Provident Federal Savings and Loan, Boise, ID, 1987
• Northwest Federal Savings and Loan, Boise, ID, 1988
• Freedom Federal Savings and Loan, Corvallis, OR, 1988
• Family Federal Savings and Loan Association, Dallas, OR, 1990
• First Federal Savings and Loan Association, Idaho Falls, ID, 1991
• Metropolitan Savings Association, Portland and Eugene, OR, 1991
• First Federal Savings Bank, Salt Lake City, UT, 1993
• West Coast Mutual Savings Bank, Centralia, WA, 1996

On May 20, 2003, Washington Federal announced a merger agreement with the four-branch, Seattle-based United Savings and Loan Bank. United Savings, founded on July 6, 1960 by Robert and Ruth J. Chinn, was the first Asian American-owned savings and loan in the United States.