Washington Mutual (WM)

WaMu is the sixth largest U.S. bank, based on bank deposit assets, with a 3.2% share behind Bank of America Corp. (BAC), JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), Wachovia Corp. (WB), Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC) and Citigroup Inc. (C), Chief Executive Officer Kerry Killinger said in a Jan. 29 investor conference. WaMu had $194.3 billion in deposits as of Dec. 31, Bloomberg News reported.

The mortgage lender is close to a deal with private equity firm TPG Inc. that would boost its balance sheet by $5 billion. The Seattle-based company is the latest financial firm to seek an outside capital infusion due to heavy subprime-related losses. For the fourth quarter, the firm took its first loss in 10 years with $3 billion of write-downs due to mortgage and loan losses.

Expanding Footprint: Washington Mutual has an established footprint in the Texas, California, Washington, New Jersey and New York areas and plans to open 150-175 new branches in these locations in 2007.

Cross-Selling Opportunities: With the acquisition of Providian and Commercial Capital, Washington Mutual has expanded its cross-selling opportunities in retail banking and card services.

Ceased Monetary Tightening: The Federal Reserve has ceased raising short term interest rates for the time being, allowing for an expansion in the net interest margin for 2007.