A labor-bank identity that still shapes customers
Amalgamated Bank was founded in 1923 by a garment workers’ union, and labor organizations remain a defining customer group. Its current union-banking materials describe services for local and national unions and their members, including cash management and investment services for pension funds. That history helps explain a franchise whose relationships can extend far beyond the neighborhoods around its branches. The business brings together organizations that hold operating cash, employees who need ordinary banking, and benefit funds whose assets require administration. Those are related customer needs, but they do not all become bank deposits. [1]
The New York bank has a listed parent
The FDIC identifies the active New York-chartered bank under certificate 622, with an April 14, 1923 establishment date and the FDIC as primary federal regulator. Amalgamated Financial Corp., a Delaware public benefit corporation, became its holding company in a March 1, 2021 reorganization. The group’s 2025 annual report says it is no longer majority union-owned, although Workers United held about 38% of the parent’s equity at year-end. This profile concerns the insured New York bank. The parent’s share price, equity and consolidated earnings are distinct reporting measures. [2][3]
A national niche with a selective office footprint
The 2025 annual report places its principal branch markets in New York City, Washington, D.C., and San Francisco, with a commercial office in Boston. Customers include nonprofits, political organizations, foundations and businesses that seek a financial provider aligned with their missions. The bank also offers consumer accounts through branches and digital channels. That model concentrates marketing around communities of interest as well as geography. A values-based identity can help attract a relationship, but it does not itself establish credit quality or guarantee that a customer will leave deposits in place. [3]
Custody adds a different source of business
Amalgamated’s custody services include safekeeping assets, processing investment income and corporate actions, account transitions and reporting. These functions are relevant to pension funds and other institutions that need someone to administer investments reliably. The bank’s role as custodian is different from owning those assets or guaranteeing their market value. Fees from servicing a client’s portfolio can contribute to earnings while the securities remain client property. This is why a large custody business should not be read as an equally large addition to the insured bank’s balance sheet. [4]
The recovery before the public offering
The bank’s modern history includes a serious earlier setback. The FDIC’s September 2011 release lists an August 31 against Amalgamated Bank. In an account written around the 2018 public offering, then-chief executive Keith Mestrich described the bank’s post-crisis financial stress, private capital raising, sales of troubled loans and changes to risk systems. He said the FDIC subsequently lifted the order. That is an attributed company account of the recovery, supported by the regulator’s record that an order existed. The historical order is not presented here as a current restriction or a finding about today’s management. [5][6]
Growth and earnings at the same June checkpoint
At June 30, 2026, the bank reported $9.41 billion of assets, $8.49 billion of deposits and $5.08 billion of net loans, compared with $8.62 billion, $7.76 billion and $4.66 billion a year earlier. First-half bank net income increased to $61.4 million from $52.5 million. Equity was $869.6 million versus $793.2 million. The FDIC net interest margin rose to 3.78% from 3.57%. These are bank-only January–June earnings and period-end balances; the holding company’s reported deposits and equity differ and are not substituted into this comparison. [7]
A single borrower changed the credit picture
Growth did not mean every risk measure improved. The bank’s noncurrent-loan ratio rose to 1.99% from 0.75%, while first-half net were $6.4 million versus $6.0 million. The June 2026 parent filing explained that $78.0 million of multifamily loans to one borrower entered nonaccrual status during the first quarter after the borrower indicated an expected default. That was the main driver of increased nonperforming assets since December. Nonaccrual means the lender stops recognizing ordinary interest income; it is not a declaration that the entire loan balance has already been lost. [7][8]
Election-linked deposits have their own calendar
The June filing also describes political-organization deposits as seasonal around election cycles. It reported $2.08 billion of such balances on and off the balance sheet combined. The distinction is important because some customer funds are placed at other insured banks through a custodial arrangement; they are not all deposits of Amalgamated Bank. The filing does not make campaign cash permanently available just because it is in an account at quarter-end. Incoming fundraising and later spending can change balances, making the timing of withdrawals a funding consideration alongside the bank’s longer-lived loans and securities. [8]
The mission and the financial test remain separate
The July 23 earnings release reported record profitability and stronger margins, while also disclosing the elevated problem-asset balance. Those developments can coexist: income earned across performing assets can rise while one large relationship deteriorates. The bank’s mission-based franchise provides a distinctive way to attract customers and institutional relationships, but property cash flows, deposit retention and the cost of resolving troubled credit still determine financial outcomes. The current evidence supports both stronger earnings and a meaningful concentration risk. It does not establish the final recovery on the multifamily loans or the level of deposits after the next election-related spending cycle. [9]
Sources
- Amalgamated Bank: union customers and services; checked October 6, 2026SourceBack to text: ↑1↑2
- FDIC institution directory: certificate 622, retrieved October 6, 2026Official sourceBack to text: ↑
- Amalgamated: 2025 Form 10-KFiling / reportBack to text: ↑1↑2
- Amalgamated Bank: custody services; checked October 6, 2026SourceBack to text: ↑
- FDIC: August 31, 2011 Amalgamated consent order listed in September 30 releaseOfficial source · PDFBack to text: ↑
- Amalgamated Bank: former CEO account of its recovery and 2018 public offeringSourceBack to text: ↑
- FDIC bank-only reports: certificate 622, June 30, 2026 and June 30, 2025; dollar fields in thousandsOfficial sourceBack to text: ↑1↑2
- Amalgamated Financial: June 2026 Form 10-Q, filed August 4, 2026Filing / reportBack to text: ↑1↑2
- Amalgamated Financial: second-quarter results, July 23, 2026SourceBack to text: ↑