Washington Federal in Seattle has a new identity.
The $16.5 billion-asset company said in a press release Wednesday that it had rebranded as WaFd Bank.
Brent Beardall, the company's president and CEO, said the new name addresses confusion. He said that, in recent years, the company had repeatedly fielded questions about what it does, whether it was affiliated with the federal government and if it was based in the nation's capital.
The bank also has expanded well beyond its home state.
“People who don't know us yet can't tell for sure what we do,” Beardall said in the release. “We needed to address that challenge while making sure our bank would be clearly recognizable in all our markets.”
The company decided to change to WaFd Bank — pronounced wah-fed — because it already functions as its nickname, aligns with its stock symbol and clarifies that the company is a bank.
