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Washington Mutual Inc
Type Public
Founded 1889
Headquarters Seattle, Washington
Key people Kerry Killinger, CEO & Chairman
Industry Finance and Insurance
Products Financial Services
Revenue $15.962B USD
Employees 60,798
Subsidiaries WM Financial Services; Washington Mutual Insurance Services; Washington Mutual Card Services
Website http://www.wamu.com/
A Washington Mutual branch in San Jose, California

Washington Mutual (or WaMu; NYSE: WM) is one of United States's leading consumer and small business banks. Despite its name, it is not a credit union or mutual company. It is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange. As of June 30, 2005, it stands as the 6th largest bank in the United States by assets, valued at $350.7 billion.

In March of 2006, Washington Mutual began moving into its new headquarters, WaMu Center, located in downtown Seattle. The company's original headquarters, Washington Mutual Tower, still stands about a block away from the new building on Second Avenue.

Washington Mutual's principal activities are to provide financial services to consumers and small businesses such as retail banking, mortgage lending, consumer lending, business banking, business lending, insurance services, credit card services, commercial real estate mortgage and consumer investment services.

Washington Mutual is the sole surviving major Seattle-based bank after the flurry of mergers in the 1980s and 1990s ended the independence of Rainier Bank, Seafirst Bank, and People's Bank, among others.

Washington Mutual operates more than 2,600 retail banking, mortgage lending, commercial banking, and financial services offices, as of June 30, 2006.

Contents

  • 1 History
  • 2 Occasio Branches
  • 3 Acquisitions
  • 4 External links

History

Washington Mutual was founded as the Washington National Building Loan and Investment Association on September 25, 1889 in an attempt to save Seattle's economy after a fire nearly destroyed the city. It made the first home mortgage loan on the West Coast four months later. Its name was changed to Washington Savings and Loan Association on June 25, 1908. During World War I its assets would expand by 68%.

By now called Washington Mutual Savings Bank, the company made its first acquisition on July 25, 1930, by purchasing Continental Mutual Savings Bank. Over the next fifty years it would be involved in pioneering cash machine networks and telephone banking.

Its marketing slogan for much of its history was "The Friend of the Family."

In 1983, Washington Mutual bought the brokerage firm Murphey Favre and demutualized. Today, it trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol WM. By 1989, its assets had doubled.

In March of 2006, Washington Mutual re-introduced its Free Checking product under the trademark WaMu Free Checking. It introduced benefits including: free checks for life, free ATM withdrawals (no Washington Mutual fees for non-proprietary ATMs), one free overdraft or insufficient funds refund per year, three cents back on debit card purchases, free custom email alerts, and free outgoing wire transfers (both international and domestic). Along with the new product, Washington Mutual changed its slogan from "More Human Interest" to "The WaMu Way" (WaMu is the official abbreviation for the company name).

In August 2006, Washington Mutual began using the official abbreviation of WaMu in all but the legal viewpoint. The move by Washington Mutual is gaining a lot of media attention, bringing positive views from all over the United States, and through the banking industry.

Occasio Branches

Occasio is Latin for "favorable opportunity" or "special occasion" (which is also the root of the English word, occasion). It has an open, welcoming space with the look and feel of a contemporary retail store. Occasio branches are unique to Washington Mutual, as their design has taken a completely different direction from normal banks. Instead of teller windows and the traditional counter (which are normally roped off making customers form a line), tellers process customer transactions at individual stations. Washington Mutual is also unique in that it does not have tellers hand back any monies to customers, but instead gives customers a receipt with a PIN code. Customers walk over to an ATM like dispensing machine where they enter the one-time generated PIN code to retrieve their funds. This eliminates the possibility of theft by tellers or other customers from clients.

In October, 2006, Jaime Quiroz Sanchez filed suit against Washington Mutual over a security issue in the Occasio layout. Because of the open design, he claims, anyone can see the money being handled by the teller. When a Washington Mutual branch refused to allow him to deposit $20,805 because of an expired driver's license, he was robbed of the money on the way out, as the open layout allowed people both inside and looking into the bank from outside to become aware that he was carrying a large amount of money (LA Times: Client Faults WaMu Layout in Robbery).

Acquisitions

Since the acquisition of Murphey Favre, Washington Mutual has made numerous acquisitions with the aim of expanding the corporation. By acquiring corporations such as PNC Mortgage, Fleet Mortgage, and Homeside Lending; Washington Mutual is now the 3rd largest mortgage lender in the United States. With the acquisition of Providian Financial Corporation in October 2005, WaMu has also become the nation's 9th largest credit card company.

A list of Washington Mutual acquisitions since demutualization follows:

  • Commercial Capital Bancorp, California, 2006
  • Providian Financial Corporation, California, 2005
  • HomeSide Lending, Inc., Florida, a unit of National Australia Bank, 2002
  • Dime Bancorp, Inc., New York, 2002
  • Fleet Mortgage Corp., South Carolina, 2001
  • Bank United Corp., Texas, 2001
  • PNC Mortgage, Illinois, 2001
  • Alta Residential Mortgage Trust, California, 2000
  • Long Beach Financial Corp., California, 1999
  • Industrial Bank, California, 1998
  • H.F. Ahmanson & Co. (Home Savings of America), California, 1998
  • Great Western Bank, 1997
  • United Western Financial Group, Inc., Utah, 1997
  • Keystone Holdings, Inc. (American Savings Bank), California, 1996
  • Utah Federal Savings Bank, 1996
  • Western Bank, Oregon, 1996
  • Enterprise Bank, Washington, 1995
  • Olympus Bank FSB, Utah, 1995
  • Summit Savings Bank, Washington, 1994
  • Far West Federal Savings Bank, Oregon, 1994
  • Pacific First Bank, Ontario, 1993
  • Pioneer Savings Bank, Washington, 1993
  • Great Northwest Bank, Washington, 1992
  • Sound Savings & Loan Association, Washington, 1991
  • CrossLand Savings FSB, Utah, 1991
  • Vancouver Federal Savings Bank, Washington, 1991
  • Williamsburg Federal Savings Association, Utah, 1990
  • Frontier Federal Savings Association, Washington, 1990
  • Old Stone Bank of Washington, FSB, Rhode Island, 1990


External links

Official corporate websites
  • http://www.wamu.com/
  • http://www.wamuhomeloans.com/
  • http://www.wamu.com/wmfinancial/investmentshome.asp
  • http://www.wamuins.com/
  • http://www.wamucards.com/
  • http://www.wmfinancial.com/
  • http://www.wamoolaforschools.com/
  • WaMu Financial Center locater
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Search Term: "Washington_Mutual"

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FW bank robbery suspect sought 

Dallas Morning News - Apr 06 11:48 AM
Police are looking for a man who robbed a bank in west Fort Worth Thursday afternoon. The suspect entered the Washington Mutual Bank in the 6300 block of Camp Bowie around 5 p.m. and handed a teller a demand note, Fort Worth police Lt. Dean Sullivan said.
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Hunting 6-ft. bank robber 
The Jersey Journal - Apr 04 11:53 PM
The FBI is looking for a bank robber who hit two Hudson County banks last week. The North Fork Bank on Paterson Plank Road in Secaucus was robbed on March 26; the Washington Mutual Savings Bank on Broadway in Bayonne was robbed on March 29.
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Keller Rohrback L.L.P. Announces Investigation on Behalf of Participants of the Washington Mutual, Inc. Pension Plan 
[Press Release] PrimeNewswire via Yahoo! Finance - Apr 04 3:53 PM
SEATTLE, April 4, 2007 -- Keller Rohrback L.L.P. today announced its investigation against Washington Mutual, Inc. for potential violations of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 .
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Caution against overreacting to the subprime-lending rout 
The Philadelphia Inquirer - Apr 08 1:09 AM
Bill Nygren, manager of the top-performing Oakmark Fund, said investors were making a mistake by selling shares of banks such as Citigroup Inc. and Washington Mutual Inc.
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2 bandits scared off from robbing bank near West Palm Beach 
Sun-Sentinel - Apr 04 6:03 AM
Two potential bank robbers got scared off after entering Washington Mutual bank about 11 a.m.on Tuesday in the 6800 block of Okeechobee Boulevard west of West Palm Beach, the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office said.
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NHJ Legal Notices 
Newkirk Herald Journal - Apr 06 10:01 AM
(Published in the Newkirk Herald Journal Thursday, April 5, 2007.) 1t IN THE DISTRICT COURT WITHIN AND FOR KAY COUNTY STATE OF OKLAHOMA WASHINGTON MUTUAL BANK F/K/A WASHINGTON MUTUAL BANK, F.A., Plaintiff, vs.
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Newsmakers 
Richmond.com - Apr 09 4:10 AM
Who's going where and with whom in the world of Richmond business? This week: The Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond appoints new members to its Small Business and Agriculture Advisory Council.
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Thirty-acre school land sale, bank bid lead county agenda 
Brenham Banner-Press - Apr 07 7:21 AM
Major action items for Tuesday's 9 a.m. county commissioners court session in courthouse room 105 include discussion on advertising for bids for the sale of 30 acres of Tom Green County school lands as well as a likely court action to award a new two-year bank depository bid.
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Briefs 
Observer-Reporter - Apr 07 12:37 AM
Charleroi bank plans Washington branch
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Oakmark Fund chief bets on big banks 
International Herald Tribune - Apr 06 12:26 AM
Bill Nygren, manager of the top-performing Oakmark Fund, thinks that investors are making a mistake by selling shares of banks like Citigroup and Washington Mutual. "Investors are overreacting to the upturn in mortgage delinquencies," he said.
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Last Update: 2007-04-09 08:33:01

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