Monday, September 8, 2008

Washington Mutual CEO Terminated

Washington Mutual, the country’s biggest savings and loan, said Monday morning that Alan H. Fishman has been appointed chief executive, succeeding Kerry K. Killinger, who had been forced out after leading the company for 18 years.

Until 2007, Mr. Fishman, 62, was president and chief operating officer of Sovereign Bank. He joined Sovereign through its 2006 acquisition of Independence Community Bank, which served the New York area, where he had been president and chief executive since 2001. He was widely praised for getting a top-dollar price for Independence.

Mr. Killinger had built Washington Mutual into one of the nation’s biggest financial institutions through a series of acquisitions. But his failure to properly integrate those deals and manage the growing losses from subprime mortgages and credit card loans proved to be his undoing.

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