Despite its name, Washington Mutual is a stock financial services company based in Seattle, Washington. Its headquarters are in the Washington Mutual Tower in downtown Seattle (the second tallest building in the city).

Founded as the Washington National Building Loan and Investment Association on September 25, 1889, 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, of Continental Mutual Savings Bank. Over the next fifty years it would be involved in pioneering cash machine networks and telephone banking.

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.

Since the acquisition of Murphey Favre, Washington Mutual has made numerous acquisitions and is now the leading mortgage lender in the United States. A list of such acquisitions follows:

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 (Home Savings of America), California, 1998
Great Western Financial Corp., 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
World Savings & Loan Association, California, 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
Columbia Federal Savings Bank, Washington, 1988
Shoreline Savings Bank, Washington, 1988
Lincoln Mutual Savings Bank, Washington, 1985
United Savings Bank, Washington, 1983

Recent troubles

Washington Mutual has been losing money recently due to trouble with its mortgage lending business. In particular, it failed to adequately integrate the computer systems of its many acquisitions, resulting in gridlock.

External links

Corporate websites:
http://www.wamu.com/
http://www.wamuhomeloans.com/