Banking institutions whose name begins with “W” have been particularly unlucky in the current financial crisis.
First, Washington Mutual, the country’s largest thrift, was taken over by the government and hours later sold to J.P. Morgan Chase.
Then about a week later, Wachovia Corp.’s banking operations were pushed by the federal government into the arms of Citigroup, which agreed to pay about $2 billion.
As a consequence of these actions, deposits among the nation’s 3 largest banks have become even more concentrated, with the top 3 banks–Bank of America, J.P. Morgan Chase and Citigroup–each having more than twice the deposits as 4th-ranked Wells Fargo.
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