Overview - Greater Rochester Enterprise

Overview
Washington Mutual, Inc. (NYSE: WM) is a publicly held, Fortune 500 financial services
company that was founded in Seattle, Washington more than 100 years ago. The
organization currently operates over 2,400 offices throughout the nation.
In the Greater Rochester, New York area, Washington Mutual employs approximately
850 people at their 125,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art national telephone banking
center, making them the largest employer in Albion, Orleans County. The workforce at
the facility, which is primarily a banking call center, is growing, and the number of
employees is expected to reach nearly 1,000 in the near future.
Washington Mutual’s patented approach to retail banking has been named in Fortune’s
2004 “Most Admired Companies” list as the No. 1 rated company nationally in the
innovation category. The company was also listed in Fortune magazine’s “100 Best
Companies to Work For,” along with two Rochester-based companies: Wegmans Food
Markets Inc. and Paychex Inc. Washington Mutual was also on Fortune magazine’s list
of “America’s Most Admired Companies” this year.
History
Washington Mutual was founded as the Washington National Building Loan and
Investment Association in September 1889, just three months after a devastating fire
blazed through Seattle, destroying some 25 city blocks in a 120-acre area. The building
and loan association was founded in part to help city residents rebuild.
In February 1890, the company issued the first monthly-installment home loan on the
West Coast. The borrower was a seaman who used the $700 loan to build a house in a
Seattle neighborhood. The building and loan association later issued more than 2,000
similar loans, helping to build 250 blocks of housing in Seattle.
During World War I, Washington Mutual expanded its assets by 68 percent. In 1930, at
the start of the Great Depression, the company made its first acquisition, purchasing
Continental Mutual Savings Bank. By the end of World War II, it was the strongest
savings institution in Washington State.
After the war years, WaMu focused on innovation, installing its first computer in 1962.
The first shared cash machine network was initiated in 1974, and the first pay-by-phone
telephone banking system was installed during the same decade. Also in the 1970s, the
bank began a long-term commitment to the revitalization of urban communities and
neighborhoods through its Step Rate Loan program to low-income borrowers.
Case study prepared by Greater Rochester Enterprise.
For additional case studies, please visit www.RochesterBiz.com

Washington Mutual acquired securities brokerage firm Murphey Favre and went public
in 1983. The stock’s initial public offering raised $72 million, 26 percent more than
expected. The company’s assets more than doubled within six years of going public.
In the late 1990s most financial institutions were directing customers to use ATMs and
the internet, and debating clicks vs. bricks. Washington Mutual stuck with bricks and
developed a retail banking concept aimed to meet customers’ banking needs in an
accommodating, welcoming environment. In 2000, after conducting two years of
extensive customer research, the organization introduced consumers to its “Occasio”
retail banking concept and to a whole new way of banking.
Latin for “favorable opportunity,” Occasio offers customers a friendly, personalized
experience that encourages interaction between customers and tellers in a contemporary,
open setting. Occasio stores feature casually dressed, khaki-clad “concierges” who greet
people and escort them to the appropriate service area. Stores also feature a circular
design without traditional bank barriers -- teller windows between customers and
employees -- and instead, feature “teller towers” where representatives can greet
customers and serve them more efficiently.
In addition to winning accolades for its pioneering retail banking concept, in 2004 the
United States Patent Office awarded the organization the first patent issued to a financial
services institution describing a full-service branch concept.
Washington Mutual reinforced its commitment to improving the communities where it
conducts business when it announced a 10-year, $375 billion lending and investment
initiative to low and moderate income communities in 2001.
Today, Washington Mutual is the sixth-largest banking firm in the United States with
assets of $278.54 billion and operations in more than 2,400 offices throughout the nation.
Situation Analysis
Washington Mutual first came on the Greater Rochester scene in January 2002 when it
acquired Dime Bancorp Inc., including its mortgage-servicing and loan-processing center
in the village of Albion, Orleans County.
That spring, according to the Rochester Business Journal, WaMu began a $14 million
upgrade and expansion to convert the operation into a telephone banking center. The
move was expected to retain 450 jobs and create an additional 450 jobs in three years,
and the company has already reached that target. The company owns a 135,000-squarefoot
office building and leases a 65,000-square-foot facility and another 30,000-squarefoot
building in Albion.
The village, county and state approved some $5 million in tax abatements to support the
project. Local officials also OK’d $400,000 toward the construction of a 150-car parking
lot.
Case study prepared by Greater Rochester Enterprise.
For additional case studies, please visit www.RochesterBiz.com

Since 2002, the bank has grown from some 450 local employees to more than 900 local
employees today. Economic developers in Orleans County estimate WaMu’s growth will
have an economic impact of between $70 million and $90 million on the local economy
over the next few years. Washington Mutual continues to hire employees in Albion.
Conclusion
As the largest employer in Orleans County, Washington Mutual is an integral part of the
Rochester regional economy. According to the Rochester Business Journal, WaMu has
invested some $14 million in upgrading its facilities in Albion, and economic developers
estimate the bank will have an economic impact of $70 million to $90 million over the
next few years.
Case study prepared by Greater Rochester Enterprise.
For additional case studies, please visit www.RochesterBiz.com