JPMorgan Chase & Co. became the biggest U.S. bank by deposits, acquiring Washington Mutual Inc.'s branch network for $1.9 billion after the thrift was seized in the largest U.S. bank failure in history.

Customers of WaMu withdrew $16.7 billion from accounts since Sept. 16, leaving the Seattle-based bank ``unsound,'' the Office of Thrift Supervision said late.
WaMu is the latest casualty of a financial crisis that drove Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and IndyMac Bancorp out of business and led to the hastily arranged rescues of Merrill Lynch & Co. and Bear Stearns Cos., which was itself absorbed by JPMorgan. WaMu in March rejected a takeover offer from JPMorgan Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon that the savings and loan valued at $4 a share.
``This is a fabulous franchise,'' Dimon, 52, said in an interview. ``We think we got this at a price that protects us, where if we were wrong, it still protects us.''
WaMu collapsed as its credit rating was slashed to junk and its stock price tumbled. Facing $19 billion of losses on soured mortgage loans, the lender put itself up for sale last week. WaMu fired CEO Kerry Killinger on Sept. 8 and replaced him with Alan Fishman, who was awarded a $7.5 million signing bonus and $1 million salary.
In most bank seizures, little or nothing is left for shareholders. WaMu, down 95 percent in the past year, dropped to 45 cents in extended trading following the announcement, which came after the close of regular trading.
David Bonderman's TPG Inc., which led a $7 billion capital infusion for WaMu earlier this year, lost most of its initial $2 billion investment. TPG, based in Forth Worth, Texas, said in a statement it was ``dissatisfied with the loss'' and that the WaMu investment was a ``small part of assets.''
New York-based JPMorgan, which separately announced plans to raise $8 billion by selling common stock, had its outlook lowered to negative by Moody's Investors Service. Moody's left its Aa2 rating on JPMorgan unchanged.
JPMorgan won't acquire WaMu's liabilities, including claims by shareholders and subordinated and senior debt holders, the FDIC said. JPMorgan paid $10 a share for Bear Stearns in March as the New York-based securities firm teetered on the brink of bankruptcy.
``This is one of the reasons I own JPMorgan: They're going to win from all this,'' said Anton Schutz, president of Mendon Capital Advisors Corp. in Rochester, New York. ``They're taking on credit risk, but they're not taking on any debt obligations.''
JPMorgan will add branches in California, Washington and Florida, among other states, and will have 5,400 offices with about $900 billion in deposits, the most of any U.S. bank. The branches and credit cards will carry the Chase brand and will be integrated by 2010, JPMorgan said.
``We don't know and we don't care'' about rival bids for WaMu, he said.
Dimon also said on the conference call that he's in favor of the government's proposed $700 billion plan to prop up the banking industry, but didn't rely on it to complete the deal. The plan was jeopardized as congressional Republicans failed to agree on its details.
JPMorgan is taking on $176 billion in mortgage-related assets and writing down the value of it and other portfolios by about $31 billion, the company said. The bank will make a one-time payment of $1.9 billion to the FDIC as part of the deal.
Citigroup Inc., which had been among five potential acquirers, elected not to bid for WaMu because presumed loan losses outweighed benefits from the deposits, said a person familiar with the situation.
Wells Fargo & Co., Banco Santander SA and Toronto-Dominion bank had expressed interest in buying all or parts of WaMu, said a person with knowledge of the process.
(Source: Bloomberg)