{{short description|American bank}} {{infobox company | name = Beal Financial Corporation | logo = Beal_Bank_2023_logo.png | type = Private | industry = Bank | founded = {{Start date and age|1988|03|10}} | founder = Andrew Beal | hq_location_city = Plano, Texas | owner = Andrew Beal | website = {{URL|https://www.bealbank.com/}} | footnotes = <ref name=bealbankfdic>{{Cite web | url=https://banks.data.fdic.gov/bankfind-suite/bankfind/details/32574 | title=Beal Bank | work=Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation}}</ref><ref name=bealbankusafdic>{{Cite web | url=https://banks.data.fdic.gov/bankfind-suite/bankfind/details/57833 | title=Beal Bank USA | work=Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation}}</ref> {{Infobox company | name = Beal Bank | num_locations = 5<ref>{{Cite web |title=Beal Bank Home {{!}} Beal Bank {{!}} Beal Bank, Home of Beal Bank & Beal Bank USA |url=https://www.bealbank.com/bb/home |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250808102252/https://www.bealbank.com/bb/home |archive-date=2025-08-08 |access-date=2025-10-17 |website=www.bealbank.com |language=en-US}}</ref> | assets = $4.843 billion (2024) | footnotes = <ref>{{Cite web | url=https://cdr.ffiec.gov/public/ManageFacsimiles.aspx# | title=View -- Executive Summary Report | publisher=Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council}}</ref> }} {{Infobox company | name = Beal Bank USA | type = Bank | founded = {{Start date|2004|08|02}} | hq_location_city = Las Vegas, Nevada | num_locations = 11 | assets = $18.030 billion (2024) | footnotes = <ref>{{Cite web | url=https://cdr.ffiec.gov/public/ManageFacsimiles.aspx# | title=View -- Executive Summary Report | publisher=Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council}}</ref> }} }} '''Beal Financial Corporation''' is a bank holding company based in Plano, Texas that operates two federally chartered banks: Beal Bank, with 5 branches,<ref name=bealbankfdic/> and Beal Bank USA, headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada, with 10 branches and a direct bank.<ref name=bealbankusafdic/> It is on the list of largest banks in the United States. It was founded by and is entirely owned by billionaire Andrew Beal and specializes in acquiring distressed securities at discounted values. It acquires risky loans, but keeps a much higher equity buffer than other banks.<ref name=deposits/><ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/nathanvardi/2015/04/15/the-billionaire-banker-ready-to-bet-on-oil/ | title=The Billionaire Banker Ready to Bet on Oil | first=Nathan | last=Vardi | work=Forbes | date=April 15, 2015 | url-access=limited}}</ref>
==History== Beal Bank was founded on March 10, 1988 in Dallas, TX by Andrew Beal.<ref name=bealbankfdic/><ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.bizjournals.com/southflorida/stories/2009/11/09/daily61.html | title=Texas Billionaire Beal Seeks Failed Florida Bank | first=Brian | last=Bandell | work=American City Business Journals | date=November 9, 2009 | url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref name=maverick>{{cite news | url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB110556884311724524 | title=Maverick Banker in Texas Chases Distressed Assets | first=George | last=Anders | work=The Wall Street Journal | date=January 13, 2005 | url-access=subscription}}</ref> It began with $3 million in capital and a single branch in Carrollton, Texas.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.dallasnews.com/business/2010/02/21/beal-bank-owner-paved-his-own-road-to-becoming-dallas-richest-man/ | title=Beal Bank Owner Paved His Own Road to Becoming Dallas' Richest Man | work=The Dallas Morning News | date=February 21, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.dallasobserver.com/news/love-and-rockets-6392592 | title=Love & Rockets | first=Joe | last=Pappalardo | work=Dallas Observer | date=March 1, 2001}}</ref> During the savings and loan crisis, the bank purchased assets and real estate from failing banks and the Resolution Trust Corporation, a government-owned company that liquidated real estate and savings-and-loan assets.<ref name=deposits>{{cite news | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2011/07/03/gIQA9RhE6H_story.html |title=His hedge against risk: Bank deposits | first=Anthony | last=Effinger | newspaper=The Washington Post | date=July 9, 2011 | url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref name=maverick/> By 1996, the bank was the most profitable bank in Texas.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.bizjournals.com/dallas/stories/1996/07/15/story4.html | title=The Thrill is Gone: Beal Looks Beyond RTC Loans | first=David | last=Welch | work=American City Business Journals | date=July 15, 1996 | url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.bizjournals.com/dallas/stories/1998/03/16/story1.html | title=Beal Aerospace Ready for Launch | first=Jeff | last=Bounds | work=American City Business Journals | date=March 16, 1998 | url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.dmagazine.com/publications/d-magazine/2000/february/the-beal-conjecture/ | title=The Beal Conjecture | first=Melinda | last=RICE | work=D Magazine | date=February 1, 2000}}</ref>
In 2000, the company acquired $1 billion of face value in commercial loans from the Small Business Administration at a discount.<ref name=maverick/>
After the September 11 attacks, the company invested in distressed securities of airline companies.<ref name=maverick/><ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/nathanvardi/2013/01/23/billionaire-banker-targeting-big-banks-over-mortgages/ | title=Billionaire Banker Targeting Big Banks Over Mortgages | first=Nathan | last=Vardi | work=Forbes | date=January 23, 2013 | url-access=limited}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news | url=https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/andy-beals-road-to-become-a-billionaire-with-fdic-assets/articleshow/9122012.cms | title=Andy Beal's road to become a billionaire with FDIC assets | agency=Bloomberg News | work=The Economic Times | date=July 6, 2011}}</ref>
In 2003, the company acquired Southern Pacific Bank based in Torrance, California, with three branches and $834 million in deposits, after it was shut down by regulators.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2003-feb-08-fi-rup8.2-story.html |title=Regulators Close Southern Pacific | work=Los Angeles Times | date=February 8, 2003 | url-access=limited}}</ref>
On August 2, 2004, it opened Beal Savings Bank headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada. It was renamed Beal Bank USA in 2012.<ref name=bealbankusafdic/><ref>{{cite news | url=https://vegasinc.lasvegassun.com/business/2014/dec/31/beal-banks-lv-headquarters-tiny-its-22b-deposits-p/ | title=Beal Bank's L.V. Headquarters Are Tiny, But Its $2.2B in Deposits Pack a Punch | first=Eli | last=Segall | work=Las Vegas Sun | date=December 31, 2014}}</ref>
Beginning in 2004, the bank became a major lender to Donald Trump's casino properties while they went through bankruptcy, also offering to acquire the casinos outright.<ref name=bet>{{Cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/29/business/energy-environment/andrew-beal-california.html | title=A Texan's Big Bet on a Fossil-Fuel Future for California | first1=Ivan | last1=Penn | first2=Thomas | last2=Kaplan | work=The New York Times | date=March 29, 2019 | url-access=limited}}</ref>
Between 2004 and 2007, the company slowed its asset acquisition and began to let its loans run off, as the founder was correctly worried about an impending crisis. Assets shrank from $7.7 billion to $2.9 billion.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.businessinsider.com/texas-billionaire-andy-beal-half-the-countrys-banks-could-go-bust-2009-4 | title=Texas Billionaire Andy Beal: Half The Country's Banks Could Go Bust | first=Joe | last=Weisenthal | work=Business Insider | date=April 4, 2009}}</ref>
From 2008-2009, Beal Bank expanded, hiring analysts and evaluating mortgage bonds, debt and other assets being sold by financial institutions as a result of the 2008 financial crisis. By 2009, the company had purchased nearly $5 billion in assets, including $1.8 billion in residential loans, a $465 million loan to LyondellBasell, and assets from 15 failed banks in the U.S.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.forbes.com/2010/03/01/beal-bank-business-credit-lending.html | title=Billionaire Banker's Blowout Year | first=Nathan | last=Vardi | work=Forbes | date=March 1, 2010 | url-access=limited}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.forbes.com/2009/04/03/banking-andy-beal-business-wall-street-beal.html | title=The Banker Who Said No | first=Nathan | last=Vardi | work=Forbes | date=July 11, 2012 | url-access=limited}}</ref>
In April 2009, the company moved its headquarters from Dallas to Plano after buying the former headquarters of Petrofina.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.bizjournals.com/dallas/stories/2000/09/04/story1.html | title=Beal Nabs Fina Campus | first=Hala | last=Habal | work=American City Business Journals | date=September 3, 2000 | url-access=subscription}}</ref>
In December 2009, Beal Bank acquired New South Federal Savings Bank based in Irondale, Alabama, with $1.5 billion in assets.<ref>{{Cite news | url=https://www.bizjournals.com/dallas/stories/2009/12/14/daily53.html | title=Beal Bank acquires assets of failed New South Federal Savings Bank | first=Chad Eric | last=Watt | work=American City Business Journals | date=December 18, 2009 | url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.fdic.gov/resources/resolutions/bank-failures/failed-bank-list/newsouth.html | title=Failed Bank Information for New South Federal Savings Bank, Irondale, AL | work=Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation}}</ref>
In January 2010, Beal Bank acquired Charter Bank of Santa Fe.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/charter-bank-quietly-reopens-under-new-ownership/article_071eb367-18a1-5f42-82c8-66c58ea0e369.html |title=Charter Bank Quietly Reopens Under New Ownership | first=Bob | last=Quick | work=The Santa Fe New Mexican | date=January 25, 2010 | url-access=subscription}}</ref> Its branches were sold to WaFd Bank in June 2011.<ref>{{Cite news | url=https://www.bizjournals.com/albuquerque/news/2011/06/09/washington-federal-buys-charter-bank.html | title=Washington Federal buys Charter Bank | work=American City Business Journals | date=June 9, 2011 | url-access=subscription}}</ref>
In 2016, the bank acquired Sundevil Holdings LLC, the owner of two gas-fired power plants in Arizona, for a credit bid of $150 million after the company filed bankruptcy. It sold the units for $330 million in 2017.<ref>{{Cite news | url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/beal-bank-wins-court-approval-to-buy-sundevil-power-plants-1472060856 | title=Beal Bank Wins Court Approval to Buy Sundevil Power Plants | first=Lillian | last=Rizzo | work=The Wall Street Journal | date=August 24, 2016 | url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news | url=https://www.spglobal.com/marketintelligence/en/news-insights/trending/6tslkhg6uf4rbalvtoacna2 | title=Beal seeks FERC approval to sell Gila River units to Salt River Project | first=Usman | last=Khalid | work=S&P Global | date=November 21, 2017}}</ref> Beal argued before federal regulators that California policies discriminated against generators powered by fossil fuels and “left [the state] dependent on energy sources that are unreliable for round-the-clock power”. Regulators determined in June 2019 that clean-energy providers had been “receiving unfair subsidies that allowed them to submit low bids to power purchasers”. According to the ''New York Times'', Beal’s complaint against this discrimination aimed to “create a fair market and ensure system reliability, not to impede California’s transition to a carbon-free electric grid”.<ref name=bet/>
In November 2020, the bank acquired the $1 billion Campus at Legacy West development via foreclosure.<ref>{{Cite news | url=https://www.bizjournals.com/dallas/news/2020/11/12/lender-takes-over-deed-of.html | title=Beal Bank subsidiary takes over control of The Campus at Legacy West | first=Ryan | last=Salchert | work=American City Business Journals | date=November 12, 2020 | url-access=subscription}}</ref>
In 2022, the bank invested heavily in Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities.<ref>{{Cite news | url=https://www.marketwatch.com/story/andy-beal-americas-richest-banker-makes-a-massive-bond-bet-on-inflation-f524dc1e | title=Andy Beal, America's richest banker, makes a massive bond bet on inflation | first=Nathan | last=Vardi | work=MarketWatch | date=April 19, 2023 | url-access=subscription}}</ref>
As of December 31, 2024, Beal Financial Corporation reported total assets of $22.75 billion and total equity capital of $3.82 billion.<ref>{{Cite web |title=BEAL FINANCIAL CORPORATION Financial Reports |url=https://www.ibanknet.com/scripts/callreports/getbank.aspx?ibnid=usa_3818804& |access-date=2025-05-28 |website=www.ibanknet.com}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{Official website|https://www.bealbank.com/}}
Category:1988 establishments in Texas Category:American companies established in 1988 Category:Banks based in Texas Category:Banks based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex Category:Banks established in 1988 Category:Companies based in Plano, Texas