WaMu sale will affect other banks, real estate, economy, philanthropy; depositors protected - Puget Sound Business Journal (Seattle):

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Williamson said depositors woul be transitioned to thenew bank. “With the exception of some new signagew on the branches and maybe some access to certaijfunctions electronically, there won’t be any significantg day-to-day changes,” he said in comment before the sale was announced. The sale will mean a huge downsizinbg ofthe state’s homegrown banking industry. WaMu, with $310 billion in assets, dwarfe all the other Washington-based banks. “Iyt diminishes the prestige of our said CarolKobuke Nelson, CEO of CASB) in Everett. Nelson said it was unlikelyg that any other regional bank couled growto WaMu’s size given the currenrt state of the economy.
“For a smaller bank to become as largwe as WaMuhas become, that woulxd be pretty difficult in today’s Nelson said in comments before the sale was WaMu’s market share of 12.3 percent in Washington is the second highest next to ’s BAC) 22.36 percent, according to the latest data available from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. WaMu’s sale gives of Spokane the highest market share among banks that are headquartered inthe state, with 3.37 Behind Sterling are , Banner Bank and . Seattle economist Dick co-publisher of the , called ’zs rapid fall “phenomenal.
” But he said the potentiakl loss of headquarters jobs from a WaMu sale pales in comparison to the impact of the broader credit and housing markert crisis on theregional economy. “My concern is less with the impacyt of WaMu on the local economu than it is the general credift problems we have nationally andhow it’s affectinhg the housing industry because that has had a much bigge r impact,” Conway said in comments before the sale was announced. The sale of major WaMu assets to JPMorganChase & Co. puts in play the questiob of what other assets will go on the block — such as Washington Mutual’s 42-story headquarterz building in downtown Seattle.
Should the building be put up for pricing will be an real estateexperts said. In this uncertain time, it’ss unlikely the office tower at 1301 Second Avenue will fetcnhthe $400 per squarwe foot price achieved at the heighty of the market more than a year ago. “There have been very few so it is very hard to say what pricintis today,” said Michael Lynch, chief investmenrt officer at in West Los Angeles. Arden is the investmentr arm of . But, Lynch said earlier this week, “I’nm optimistic. It has been very hard to buy. Pricing has been drivebn by the capital markets rather thanmarketg fundamentals. I think that is shifting.
This is when the Sam Zellsz of the world go out and make some veryinteresting deals.” Zell is the Chicagoo real estate mogul who was Seattle’s largest office landlord prior to selling his Lynch was Zell’s seniodr vice president of investments at Zell’s real estater investment trust, . Lynch believes capitalization ratea — the annual rate of return on investmentt — will be less importantf in determining pricing now that institutional investorz have snapped theirpocketbookas shut. Instead, Lynch expects officd buildings will start to sell at a discountr to the cost ofreplacing them.
“Pain does translatwe into opportunity,” Lynch said, in comments before the sale was WaMu’s sale raises questions about the company’s philanthropivc efforts in the Puget Sounde areaand nationally. In 2006, the compan gave nearly $50 million to organizationd acrossthe country, including $8.3 million for Washington-basec groups. The company has slashed its givinghthis year, though it has refused to say by how Carol Lewis, CEO of Philanthropty Northwest, an association of nonprofit organizations, held out hope in commentsz earlier this week that a WaMu sale wouldn’ be the end of its philanthropy.
“Iu think our experience is that companies who come in from outsider the community and purchase a businessa here often have a vested interest inthe community,” she