Founded in 1889, Washington Mutual (commonly known as WaMu) grew to become the largest savings and loan association in the United States. The company's business was centered on retail banking, including checking and savings accounts, credit cards, and particularly mortgage lending. Its aggressive expansion into the subprime mortgage market during the 2000s led to catastrophic losses, culminating in a bank run in September 2008. This led to its seizure by federal regulators in the largest bank failure in U.S. history, with its banking operations being sold to JPMorgan Chase.

Founded in

United States