The future of WaMu?

Will the $7 billion investment by a group led by private equity firm TPG be enough? Well, it can't hurt. Washington Mutual now estimates it will post a $1.1 billion loss for the first quarter. Its loan loss provision likely will be $3.5 billion. In addition, the company will cut its quarterly dividend from 15 cents all the way to a penny. But the company might just survive. Business Week Online notes that at the request of the investors, WaMu will exit the wholesale mortgage business and rely solely on its network of branches, which may make quality easier to monitor. The investors may have made a timely bet here. The feeling is that the prime mortgage market may start looking better soon, given some choice regulatory moves. 

For more:
- here's the Business Week Online article

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