History

WaterStone Bank began as a building and loan association under the name of Wauwatosa Building and Loan. It was founded by Edward F. Geske and other local businessmen on the site that is now 7615 W. State Street in the Village of Wauwatosa. Today, the Wauwatosa branch office is located at 7500 W. State Street in a facility that was built in 1971.

The Bank opened its second branch on South 27th Street in Oak Creek. The bank’s present Oak Creek office, located at 6560 S. 27th Street, was built in 1988.

The first Waukesha branch opened at 1710 Paramount Drive in an existing bank building. In September 2005, the office relocated to a new facility at 21505 E. Moreland Blvd.

The original “building and loan” and then “savings and loan” became a “savings bank.”

The bank established the WaterStone Bank Fund (formerly the Wauwatosa Savings Bank Fund) with the Waukesha County Community Foundation in 2002 in order to ensure the bank’s ability to continually give back to the communities in which they serve.

The Oconomowoc/Lake Country branch office opened in March at 1233 Corporate Center Drive.

The Pewaukee branch opened in June at 1230 George Towne Drive.

Depositors approved a bank reorganization plan and a partial stock issuance plan. In October, the public stock began trading on NASDAQ.

Two branches were opened: one in Franklin/Hales Corners at 6555 S. Lovers Lane Road and the other in Germantown/Menomonee Falls at W188N9820 Appleton Avenue.

The West Allis branch opened in March at 10101 W. Greenfield Avenue.

In May the bank officially changed its name to WaterStone Bank, SSB. In August, the holdings company also changed its name from Wauwatosa Holdings to Waterstone Financial, Inc.

WaterStone launched Mobile Banking, giving the community institution’s customers fingertip access to their accounts 24/7. Through the free service, subscribers can pay bills, view account balances and transactions, transfer funds between accounts and search for nearby no-fee ATMs. For added convenience, a variety of accounts can be opened right from www.WSBonline.com as well.

WaterStone opened a commercial lending branch in Minneapolis, Minn. in December.

The bank opened a new branch in Brookfield, at 17495 W. Capitol Drive. On January 23, Waterstone Financial became a fully public company with stock traded on the NASDAQ Global Select Market. It is currently traded under the symbol [WSBF].

In March, the bank launched WaterStone Investment Services, offered through LPL Financial. Additional services introduced included ScoreCard Rewards, a program that offers WSB CheckCard users points for qualifying purchases, and Mobile Check Deposit. Two new branches were opened in October: a newly constructed branch at 5000 W. Loomis in Greenfield and a branch at 8607 N. Port Washington Road in Fox Point.

The West Allis/National branch opened in September at 10296 W National Ave

The Oak Creek/Howell Ave branch opened in December at 8780 S Howell Ave

The Milwaukee/Oklahoma Ave branch opened in October at 6801 W Oklahoma Ave