Another day, another bank failure. That almost seems to be the pattern in US financial markets at the moment. Yesterday the nation’s 6th largest bank, Washington Mutual, was taken over by government regulators and sold to JP Morgan. The 119 year old bank, headquartered on the US West Coast in Seattle, had $307bn in assets and was brought down by its risky loans in the housing sector. Its rescue also showcased a further example of the Wall Street greed that helped to cause current problems. WaMu’s new CEO, Alan Fishman, has only been in the job for 3 weeks. But apparently he will now receive $11.6m, and keep his $7.5m signing bonus.
