Eighty Percent Of Washington Mutual Chicago Branches Could Close: Report

"J. P. Morgan Chase & Co. is likely to shut down all but 15% to 20% of Washington Mutual Inc.'s Chicago-area branches, according to the real estate broker who brought the Seattle-based bank into the market in the first place," Crain's Chicago Business reports.

"WaMu's local presence doesn't hold much allure for J. P. Morgan, already the biggest bank in Chicago with 340 branches and 14,000 employees. [...] In its rapid-fire Chicago market entry, WaMu built many branches in less-than-optimal locations like strip malls. Its deposit growth has been slow, with just $1.37 billion in deposits as of June 30, 2007, the most recent data available from the FDIC. That accounted for a deposit marketshare of 0.5%.

"J. P. Morgan, on the other hand, has the metro area's largest marketshare. Its $39 billion in deposits, as of June 30, 2007, gave it 14.5% of Chicago's market."

Read the entire article here.

Comments

[patachon]

First, WaMu was a great bank -- only one not to charge me a fee when I used their ATMs.

Second, now that they're gone, I hope the change a few of those branches back to laundromats. We could use a few more of those in the neighborhood.

[PT6]

DO NOT LOWER TAXES OR REMOVE ANY REGULATIONS!

"FAIR MARKETS" NOT "free markets" are WHAT MADE AMERICA GREAT!

GET BACK TO "FAIR MARKETS!"

[PT6]

WHY DOESN'T THE SEC PUT BACK THE "UPTICK RULE?"

AS DOING AWAY WITH THAT BROUGHT ON THE CRASHES THIS SUMMER ALL THE WAY TO NOW????

DO IT MONDAY - YOU INCOMPETENT "COOKS."

[SouthPrairie]

Yep. WaMu tried to dupe my husband and I when we were just looking for an equity loan. They corraled us to the refinancing despots and tried to hard sell an adjustable rate mortgage. My husband and I just looked at each other and said--NO! They sent us back to their bank where we got an equity loan with the interest front loaded and though we have paid the payment every stinking week the loan amount has not changed.

WAMU SUCKS.

We canceled our bank accounts and will never do business with them again.

[Egalitare]

Just another aspect of the over reliance on financial industry not just the past 8 years, but since 1978. As soon as the Midwestern regional banks get snapped up by the bigger sharks, there will be many more branch closings.

The problem is where these (mostly) low level financial industry employees go next? Bank tellers aren't rolling in it, but it is a decent living, usually with a modest benefit package. All the more reason we need to create jobs by expanding both alternative energy research and committing to repairing our transportation, communication and energy infrastructures.

[nowalnuts]

Over the last few years every other new building I've seen pop up has been a bank. What's being built next to those two banks? Oh, two more banks. No joke. This had to happen.

[Wiredwilly]

What's going on is the Unconstitutional Central Bank, the Federal Reserve, is creating a situation where they can create a Global Banking Monopoly, destroy the dollar & replace it with a digital Amero, a currency produced, at interest, by the Central Banks without any Governmental oversight at all. " Banking institutions are a greater threat to our Liberties than standing armies " - Thomas Jefferson. The current economic crisis has nothing to do with the housing crisis or taxes whatsoever. It has to do with issues far more insidious. Unless we can find someone like Thomas Jefferson that actually understands the Central Banks are working against the Constitution we will collapse into depression & interest slavery as Germany did during the Weimar Republic. The $ 700 Billion Bail Out is like putting 700 Billion new cancer cells into a patient dying of cancer. The solution is the creation of a new Bank of the United States with a stable currency linked to a tangible asset like Gold, Silver, or Energy. Congress move to stop the effort of the Central Banks to create a Global monopoly. You think 27% is high on a credit card, wait until they charge you 200 %.

[juangault]

My thoughts on this are that W was (s)elected to bankrupt the USA, similar to the USSR, and have Texas emerge as an independent country, a Canadian-sized financial and energy world power. Free of Christian-inspired obligations to poor people that spun out of control after FDR. So my idea of a future currency was the Tejar, something accepted from Alaska to Panama. It'll be interesting if Ukraine can stay independent, but the situations are so different, they're almost reversed.