Why Corporate
Responsibility Matters

A letter from Thomas R. Cangemi

To our friends in our communities,

In 2022, Flagstar Bancorp, Inc. merged with New York Community Bancorp, Inc. to create a new bank operating under the Flagstar Bank, N.A. banner. The merger brought together two like-minded partners who share the same values and commitment to their employees, customers, and communities.

A linchpin to our merger was our joint $28 billion community benefits agreement with the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, which I was proud to sign. The agreement codifies how we will support communities and people of color, the underserved, low- and moderate-income families and communities, and small businesses. We further affirmed our commitment to our communities through overall charitable giving of more than $6.7 million in 2022, including grants, employee giving, sponsorships, pro bono activities, and in-kind donations.

As a company, we supported over 400 charitable organizations during the year, and our employees volunteered more than 8,000 hours in their communities. They also contributed almost $90,000 to help other employees who were experiencing hardships due to federally declared disasters and to support the work of the Flagstar Foundation.

Inside the company, we continued to embed DEI into our culture with our Let’s Talk About It series, our mentoring circles, our employee resource groups and their activities, our DEI Symposium, and our many events celebrating the diversity of our employees. We also continued to win recognition for our programs from organizations such as DiversityInc, Mortgage Women Magazine, and Corp! Magazine.

We made progress on the procurement front by establishing supplier diversity as a standard business practice and hiring a Supplier Diversity manager. And we took a big step forward in our Environmental, Social, and Governance initiatives with the hiring of a director of ESG and Sustainability. By the end of 2022, we had reached premier status in the Energy Star Certification Nation. This certification by the EPA recognizes companies that scored an Energy Star rating on 15 or more buildings during the year.

We also started a company-wide employee Green Team, installed energy-saving smart technology, initiated paperless projects, and established a national commercial lending initiative focused on environmental services and renewable power.

In addition to our long-standing community reinvestment initiatives, such as down payment assistance, specialty mortgages, and grants, we sponsored two new initiatives to bring more opportunities to minorities.

First was our $1 million donation to the Appraiser Diversity Initiative to attract more diverse applicants to the appraiser field in order to combat the damaging effects of racial bias in real estate and appraisals.

Second was $1 million to National Faith Home Buyers to establish a business center in Detroit where the formation and growth of small businesses owned by residents have been declining. The center is designed to jump-start small businesses owned by Detroiters from ideation to formation to SBA loans.

Our merger was finalized in December 2022, and in the coming year, we will be combining our businesses and building a new culture—a culture grounded in DEI and the principles of ESG. To reinforce this commitment, shortly after the merger was announced, I followed in the footsteps of Sandro DiNello, former CEO of Flagstar Bank, and signed the CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion pledge—a public commitment to take specific and measurable action to advance DEI at the new Flagstar.

We look forward to next year, when we will report to you on the power of our partnership and all the good things we accomplished as a larger, more diverse, and sustainable company, laser-focused on our communities.

Thomas R. Cangemi

President and CEO