WAMU Bought By JPMorgan Chase

Washington Mutual is now the property of JPMorgan Chase. The deal happened late Thursday night. For JPM the grand prize is (hands down) WaMu’s California branch network.

The thrift’s mortgage business has been sliding for years. On Thursday, The Wall Street Journal reported that a handful of hedge funds were considering making a bid on WaMu but nothing ever came of. The Journal wasn’t the only newspaper that bit at the story. So did we.

The rumor was true but the result didn’t match the rumor. Keep in mind that regulators, traditionally, have not been thrilled with hedge funds owning depositories…