Banner Corporation, the $16.6 billion-asset Walla Walla, Washington-based bank holding company that operates Banner Bank across 135 branches in four Western states, arrived at its second quarter of 2026 with two distinct stories running in parallel - and the latest disclosures resolved both. The first is the steady-state operating story: net interest margin on a tax-equivalent basis reached 4.13% in the quarter, +21 basis points from a year ago and +2 basis points from the preceding quarter, pushing net interest income up 6.5% year over year to $153.7 million and lifting net income to $48.9 million ($1.43 diluted) from $45.5 million ($1.31) a year ago - a +7.5% year-over-year increase despite an efficiency ratio that drifted +30 basis points to 62.80% on investments in technology and loan-origination volume. The second is the corporate-action story, and it moved decisively between the 7/22 earnings release and the next two weeks. On August 3, the board authorized a 1.7-million-share repurchase program - roughly 5% of outstanding common stock - at a time when the stock was already trading near its 52-week high. On August 11, the Washington Department of Financial Institutions approved the Pacific Financial merger. On August 12, the FDIC followed. On August 13, Pacific Financial's shareholders approved the deal, leaving the Federal Reserve as the only remaining regulator. The market is being asked to price a steady-state 12% ROTCE community bank with a 4.13% FTE NIM and a 295% ACL/NPL coverage ratio, and to do so while two material corporate events are converging on Q3 2026. The next 60 days - Federal Reserve approval, the merger close, and the pace of the buyback - are the clock the report frame is built around.