WaMu Deal Could Take Time

Washington Mutual has been the source of much speculation of late regarding a sale but so far no agreement has taken place.

Like Wachovia (WB Quote), a major stumbling block for a sale is WaMu's exposure to troubled mortgages and also increasingly to credit card defaults. The company has said that it expects cumulative losses on its assets to reach $19 billion but some analysts say it could go higher.

It is unknown at this point just how much more WaMu's mortgage portfolio will sour and how many more marks the company will have to take.

Ken Thomas, a Miami-based independent bank consultant and economist, says that "buying time" will be key for WaMu's new CEO Alan Fishman.

"What was Plan B last week has now changed," Thomas say, referring to the government initiative. "If you can buy time, the situation is so fluid and quickly changing that it really makes a big difference."

Mortgage portfolio aside, the company has roughly 2,300 branches in 14 states. WaMu has roughly half its branches in three key states, California, Texas and Florida, Thomas says.

"That's the real value," he says. "If WaMu can unload all of [its] problems ... it's going to make it more attractive and that's why buying time is the best alternative."

The Journal article on Monday suggested that a sale may also go faster if regulators were willing to assist in a takeover. In one scenario, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. would take control of WaMu's banking operations and then sell its deposits to another bank, the Journal said.