After Wachovia, WaMu Shuffles, Who's Next?

Monday's upheaval involving CEOs at Wachovia(WB Quote) and Washington Mutual(WM Quote) may not spell bad news for other banking heads.

Wachovia ousted CEO Ken Thompson on Monday. The move came about a month after the bank stripped him of his chairman title, which is exactly what WaMu did to CEO Kerry Killinger later in the morning.

The shake-ups were a reminder of widespread first-quarter losses and declining profits in the banking sector, leading some to wonder which other big bank executives could be next to be fired or demoted.

"There is a lot of speculation over how much further worse it could get for these banks," says Robert Patten, a managing director and senior bank analyst at Morgan Keegan. "If those management teams are quickly being called to task for performance and credit, it seems to me that half of the banking universe could be on that list."

Still, for all the speculation and worry that more CEOs could be ousted, observers say it is unlikely that more heads will roll -- at least at the big banks -- anytime soon.

JPMorgan Chase(JPM Quote) and Wells Fargo(WFC Quote) seem to have weathered the credit storm better than most, and respective CEOs Jamie Dimon and John Stumpf appear to be safe.

They Just Don't Get Wachovia!

Wells Fargo tended to have tighter underwriting standards and chose for the most part to stay away from subprime loan and securitizations, while JPMorgan did not originate as many mortgage-backed securities as some other Wall Street firms.

Still, JPMorgan Chase is stumbling over other securities tied to so-called Alt-A mortgages, and both companies are hurting from soured home-equity loans as home prices have fallen sharply, which has deeply impacted the banking sector over the last eight months.