For the Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2025 ☐TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF1934 For the transition period from _____ to _____ Commission File Number: 001-38456 COLUMBIA FINANCIAL, INC. (Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter) Delaware(State or other jurisdiction ofincorporation or organization) 19-01 Route 208 North, Fair Lawn, New Jersey(Address of principal executive offices) 07410(Zip Code) (800) 522-4167(Registrant’s telephone number, including area code) Securities Registered Pursuant to Section12(b) of the Act: Trading symbol(s)Name of exchange on which registeredCommon stock, par value $0.01 per shareCLBKThe Nasdaq Stock Market LLC Title of each class Securities Registered Pursuant to Section12(g) of the Act: None. Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act.☒Yes☐No Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section13 or Section15(d) of the Act.☐Yes☒No Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (l)has filed all reports required to be filed by Section13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2)has been subject to such filingrequirements for the past 90 days.☒Yes☐No Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 ofRegulation S-T during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files):☒Yes☐No Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, smaller reporting company or anemerging growth company. See the definitions of, “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growthcompany” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act. Largeacceleratedfiler☐Non-accelerated filer☐Emerginggrowthcompany☐ Accelerated filer☒ SmallerReportingCompany If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with anynew or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section13(a) of the Exchange Act.☐ Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internalcontrol over financial reporting under Section404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report.☒ If securities are registered pursuant to Section12(b) of the Act, indicate by check mark whether the financial statements of the registrant included in thefiling reflect the correction of an error to previously issued financial statements.☐ Indicate by check mark whether any of those error corrections are restatements that required a recovery analysis of incentive-based compensationreceived by any of the registrant’s executive officers during the relevant recovery period pursuant to § 240.10D-1(b).☐ Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act).☐Yes☒No The aggregate market value of the voting and non-voting common equity held by non-affiliates as of June30, 2025 (the last business day of theregistrant’s most recently completed second fiscal quarter) was $354.6million. The number of shares outstanding of the registrant’s common stock as ofApril27, 2026 was 104,142,951 (including 76,016,524 shares held by Columbia Bank, MHC). Documents Incorporated by Reference:None EXPLANATORY NOTE On March3, 2026, Columbia Financial,Inc. (the “Company”), a Delaware corporation, filed its Annual Report on Form10-K for the fiscal yearended December31, 2025 (the “Original Form10-K”). The Original Form10-K omitted PartIII,Item 10 (Directors, Executive Officers and CorporateGovernance), Item 11 (Executive Compensation), Item 12 (Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related StockholderMatters), Item 13 (Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence) and Item 14 (Principal Accountant Fees and Services) inreliance on General Instruction G(3)to Form10-K, which provides that such information may be either incorporated by reference from the registrant’sdefinitive proxy statement or included in an amendment to Form10-K, in either case filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”)not later than 120 days after the end of the fiscal year. This Amendment No.1 to Form 10-K (this “Amendment”) is being filed solely to: •Amend Part III, Items 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14 of the Original Form 10-K to include the information required by such Items; and•Include new certifications of our principal executive o