CEO of failed WaMu
could get millions
Friday September 26, 4:29 pm ET
By Marcy Gordon, AP Business Writer
CEO of failed Washington Mutual entitled to millions after only a few weeks on job
WASHINGTON (AP) — The CEO of failed Washington Mutual Inc., on the job only a few weeks before the nation’s largest thrift was seized by the government and sold to JPMorgan Chase & Co., is entitled to more than $13 million in severance and bonus pay. Alan H. Fishman signed an agreement that provides around $6 million in cash severance and retention of his signing bonus of $7.5 million if he were to leave his job, according to a company filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The board of WaMu reached out to Fishman to replace Kerry Killinger as CEO as the Seattle-based bank was in a downward financial spiral, struggling with cascading losses from soured mortgages. On Sept. 8, the same day WaMu announced Fishman’s appointment as chief executive, the bank signed an agreement with federal regulators to provide an updated business plan and forecast for its financial performance.
As with most bank takeovers, WaMu senior executives could be expected to be replaced by new owners at investment bank JPMorgan Chase & Co., which paid $1.9 billion for Washington Mutual’s banking assets in a deal brokered by federal regulators who shut down the thrift. http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080926/wamu_ceo_pay.html?.&.pf=banking-budgeting
Killinger Out at WaMu September 8, 2008
Kerry Killinger, who built Washington Mutual Inc., Seattle, into the nation’s largest thrift and one of the nation’s largest mortgage lenders, has been removed as chief executive officer of the company.
The new CEO is Alan H. Fishman, formerly president and chief operating officer of Sovereign Bank, Philadelphia, and before that, president and CEO of Independence Community Bank, Brooklyn, N.Y., which is now part of Sovereign. WaMu has entered into a memorandum of understanding with the Office of Thrift Supervision covering several areas of risk management, including its Bank Secrecy Act compliance program. WaMu will also provide the OTS with an updated, multiyear business plan and forecasts for its earnings, asset quality, capital, and business segment performance. However, WaMu said it is not being required to raise capital. Mr. Killinger was removed as WaMu’s chairman in June and replaced by Stephen E. Frank. WaMu was the nation’s fifth-largest mortgage servicer at the end of the second quarter.