With a history dating back to 1889, Washington Mutual,'Inc.,'is a financial services
company committed to serving consumers and small- to mid-sized businesses.
Our mission is to become the nations leading retailer of consumer financial
services. Our strategy is to focus primarily on middle-market consumers in the
largest metropolitan areas. Through advertising, branding and positioning we
build customer awareness of our home lending products and encourage households
to conduct business with Washington Mutual. In selected metropolitan markets,
we then overlay our retail banking operations and cross-sell key products, including
checking accounts, deposit accounts and home equity products.
Consumer Group
The Consumer Group offers products and services to consumers and manages activities
and operations affecting consumers. The Group serves approximately 11.6'million
households through multiple distribution channels, including 1,776 retail banking
stores, 432 retail home loan stores, 2,990 ATMs, 39 wholesale home loan centers,
correspondent lenders, telephone call centers and online banking.
Commercial Group
The principal activities of the Commercial Group include:
Providing financing to developers, investors, mortgage bankers and homebuilders
for the acquisition or construction of multi-family dwellings, other commercial
properties and new homes;
Originating and servicing multi-family and other commercial real estate loans
and either holding such loans in portfolio as part of its commercial asset management
business or selling them in the secondary market;
Originating, selling and servicing home loans to higher-risk borrowers through
the Companys subsidiary, Long Beach Mortgage Company; and
Offering a full array of commercial banking products and services.
We are subject to significant competition in attracting and retaining deposits
and making loans as well as in providing other financial services in all of
our market areas. We face pricing competition for loan and deposit products.
In addition, customer convenience and service capabilities, such as product
lines offered and the accessibility of services are significant competitive
factors.
Our most direct competition for loans comes from commercial banks, other savings
institutions, national mortgage companies and government-sponsored enterprises.
Our most direct competition for deposits comes from commercial banks, other
savings institutions, and credit unions doing business in our market areas.
As with all banking organizations, we have also experienced competition from
nonbanking sources, including mutual funds, corporate and government debt securities
and other investment alternatives offered within and outside of our primary
market areas.
