Killinger built WaMu into a mortgage lending and consumer banking powerhouse through a series of mergers in the 1990s. His tenure also included an aggressive retail expansion that ultimately needed to be reined in, questionable mortgage-hedging decisions that limited profits during a boom in mortgage issuance and, lastly, a move into subprime mortgages that included many ill-qualified borrowers.

WaMu board chairman Stephen Frank says Fishman "is the ideal executive to succeed Kerry Killinger and lead WaMu through its current challenges…at this critical juncture." Fishman says he intends "to hit the ground running here in Seattle with a focus on building on WaMu's strengths, addressing its weaknesses, and returning the company to profitability as quickly as possible."

Fishman joined Sovereign in 2006 when it acquired Independence Community Bank, a leading community bank and multifamily lender in the New York area for which Fishman had been president and chief executive since 2001.

With regard to its MOU with the Office of Thrift Supervision, WaMu said one of the deficiencies identified has to do with its Bank Secrecy Act compliance program. Congress passed the Bank Secrecy Act in 1970 as the first laws to fight money laundering in the US. The BSA requires businesses to keep records and file reports that are used by law enforcement agencies, both domestic and international to identify, detect and deter money laundering whether it is in furtherance of a criminal enterprise, terrorism, tax evasion or other unlawful activity. The general rule has been that you must report cash payments over $10,000 but the rules have been expanded and are being enforced more readily since the passage of the USA Patriot Act in October 2001.

WaMu's headquarters are located at 1301 Second, Ave. in Downtown Seattle. Its 944,000-sf headquarters office tower and attached 700-stall parking garage were completed in 2006. At that time the company also leased an additional 243,000 sf of contiguous office space from the Seattle Art Museum, a joint venture partner in WaMu's headquarters project, and let some other leases lapse. As of the start of the year, the company leased an additional 697,000 sf in other downtown Seattle locations for administrative functions, owned or leased 2,490 retail banking and lending centers, and owned or leased 290 administrative offices in 36 states. The breakdown of the non-Seattle administrative operations includes 2.6 million sf in California, 1.1 million sf in Texas, 825,000 sf in Florida and 463,000 sf in Illinois.