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By Mike Bodine
Register Staff 10-2-2008 The U.S. financial crisis has claimed another victim.
Washington Mutual announced that as of Sept. 25, JPMorgan Chase and Company have “acquired the deposits, loans and branches of WaMu.”
WaMu spokesperson Gary Kishner said Wednesday that WaMu customers should expect “business as usual” and that the acquisition will not affect loans, accounts or passwords.
In a letter provided at WaMu teller stands, customers are informed of what the change will mean for them. The letter states that customers deposits will continue to be insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, FDIC. The FDIC is federal deposit insurance that protects the first $100,000 of deposits that are payable in the United States.
The letter states that customers should continue to bank as normal, using the same branch, account numbers, checks, ATMs, debit and credit cards, customer service phone numbers, automated payments and online banking.
Together, WaMu and Chase Bank will offer 5,400 branches and 14,000 ATMs in 23 states.
The letter also states that WaMu customers will be able to use Chase Bank branches and ATMs nationwide.
Chase’s Web site, www.chase.com, has a large banner welcoming WaMu customers to “the number one U.S. bank in deposits.”
The site continues about future changes that WaMu customers will see, including the Chase name on statements and credit cards as they are reissued.
Eventually, the local WaMu branches will be re-named Chase and will re-issue Chase debit and credit cards.
And that, Kishner said, is the only real change customers will see.
However, Kishner said that by 2010 JPMorgan Chase will consider closing less than 10 percent of its newly combined branches, which is about 400 banks nationwide.
Chase Bank is the third largest banking company in the United States. The acquisition of WaMu by JPMorgan Chase with create the largest U.S. depository institution with more than $900 billion in customer deposits. The company is worth $1.8 trillion in assets and employs nearly 200,000 people worldwide.
According to Reuters news agency, the U.S. government closed Washington Mutual banks on Sept. 26, in the largest bank failure in U.S. history. JPMorgan Chase and Company bought WaMu assets for $1.9 billion.
In other financial news, the U.S. government “bailout” for financial institutions is approaching $1 trillion, according to www.bloomberg.com. The U.S. House of Representatives shot down the bailout over the weekend and the results were evident Monday as investors panicked over the failed package.
On Monday, Sept. 29, Wall Street saw its largest single-day point drop ever, losing 778 points, with approximately $1.2 trillion vanishing in the process, according to Reuters.
It is only the 17th largest decline in U.S. financial history, behind the 20 percent drop of 1987’s Black Monday and the Great Depression, which saw stock prices drop to only 20 percent of their value, an 80 percent decline.
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