JPMorgan Chase & Co. Inc. last night acquired the banking operations of Washington Mutual Bank (WaMu) in a transaction facilitated by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).

JPMorgan Chase acquired the assets, assumed the qualified financial contracts and made a payment of US$ 1.9 billion, and claims by equity, subordinated and senior debt holders were not acquired, according to a statement released by the FDIC.

Federal regulators said WaMu has suffered an exodus of US$16.7 billion in deposits since Sept. 15, leaving the Seattle thrift "with insufficient liquidity to meet its obligations."

As a result, WaMu was in "an unsafe and unsound condition to transact business," according to the Office of Thrift Supervision.