Banking in the United States began in the late 1790s along with the country's founding and has developed into highly influential and complex system of banking and financial services. Anchored by New York City and Wall Street, it is centered on various financial services namely private banking, asset management, and deposit security.
Washington Mutual, Inc—abbreviated to WaMu—was a savings bank holding company and the former owner of WaMu Bank, which was the United States' largest savings and loan association until its collapse in 2008.
A savings and loan association (S&L), or thrift institution, is a financial institution that specializes in accepting savings deposits and making mortgage and other loans. The terms "S&L" or "thrift" are mainly used in the United States; similar institutions in the United Kingdom, Ireland and some Commonwealth countries include building societies and trustee savings banks. They are often mutually held, meaning that the depositors and borrowers are members with voting rights, and have the ability to direct the financial and managerial goals of the organization like the members of a credit union or the policyholders of a mutual insurance company. While it is possible for an S&L to be a joint-stock company, and even publicly traded, in such instances it is no longer truly a mutual association, and depositors and borrowers no longer have membership rights and managerial control. By law, thrifts can have no more than 20 percent of their lending in commercial loans—their focus on mortgage and consumer loans makes them particularly vulnerable to housing downturns such as the deep one the U.S. experienced in 2007.
The savings and loan crisis of the 1980s and 1990s was the failure of 1,043 out of the 3,234 savings and loan associations (S&Ls) in the United States from 1986 to 1995. An S&L or "thrift" is a financial institution that accepts savings deposits and makes mortgage, car and other personal loans to individual members.
The Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) was a United States federal agency under the Department of the Treasury that chartered, supervised, and regulated all federally chartered and state-chartered savings banks and savings and loans associations. It was created in 1989 as a renamed version of the Federal Home Loan Bank Board, another federal agency. Like other U.S. federal bank regulators, it was paid by the banks it regulated. The OTS was initially seen as an aggressive regulator, but was later lax. Declining revenues and staff led the OTS to market itself to companies as a lax regulator in order to get revenue.
Federal savings associations, in the United States, are institutions chartered by the Office of Thrift Supervision which is now administered by Office of the Comptroller of the Currency after the agencies merged. Institutions chartered by the OTS are still regulated according to the rules and regulations of Federal Savings Banks. Mortgages issued by Federal Savings Banks are pursuant to the provisions of the Home Owners' Loan Act, a U.S. federal statute. Although the activities of federal thrifts were once confined primarily to taking deposits from consumers and making residential mortgage loans, federal thrifts are now authorized to offer a wide range of financial products and services.
Standard Federal Bank was a Troy, Michigan-based bank serving Michigan and Northern Indiana in the United States which was acquired by Bank of America on 5 May 2008.
Great Western Bank was a large retail bank that operated primarily in the Western United States. Great Western's headquarters were in Chatsworth, California. At one time, Great Western was one of the largest savings and loan in the nation, second only to Home Savings of America. The bank was acquired by Washington Mutual in 1997 for $6.8 billion.
H.F. Ahmanson & Co. was a California holding company named after millionaire Howard F. Ahmanson Sr. It was best known as the parent of Home Savings of America, once one of the largest savings and loan associations in the United States.
Home Federal Savings and Loan Association was a federal stock savings and loan association operating in Fayetteville, North Carolina, Lumberton, North Carolina, and Spring Lake, North Carolina with consolidated assets of $155.6 million, as of July 31, 1997. The Institution was wholly owned by Green Street Financial Corporation, Fayetteville, North Carolina, a unitary nondiversified holding company. The Institution had a main office at 241 Green Street in downtown Fayetteville, one branch on Raeford Road in Fayetteville, one branch in Spring Lake, and one branch in Lumberton. Home Federal's staff consisted of 30 full-time employees and two part-time employees as of July 31, 1997.
California Federal Bank, known as CalFed, was a savings bank headquartered in Los Angeles, California at 5670 Wilshire Boulevard. It operated 352 branches, most of which were in California. In 2002, the bank was acquired by Citigroup.
Western Savings and Loan was an American financial institution founded by the Driggs family.
The Lincoln Savings and Loan Association of Irvine, California, was the financial institution at the heart of the Keating Five scandal during the 1980s savings and loan crisis.
Guaranty Bank was a major bank based in Austin, which collapsed in 2009. It was formed in 1988 as part of Temple-Inland and in 2007 became a standalone company. At the time of its collapse, Guaranty was the second largest bank in Texas, with 162 branches across Texas and California, and had $13 billion in assets and held $12 billion in deposits. Major shareholders included billionaire investor Carl Icahn and hotel tycoon Robert Rowling, who jointly invested $600 million in the bank in 2008.
Bank United Corporation, headquartered in Houston, Texas, was a broad-based financial services provider and the largest publicly traded depository institution headquartered in Texas before its merger with Washington Mutual in 2001. Bank United Corp. conducted its business through its wholly owned subsidiary, Bank United, a federally chartered savings bank. The company operated a 155-branch community banking network in Texas, including 77 in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, 66 in the greater Houston area, five in Midland, four in Austin, and three in San Antonio; operated 19 SBA lending offices in 14 states; was a national middle market commercial bank with 23 regional offices in 16 states; originated mortgage loans through 11 wholesale offices in 10 states; operated a national mortgage servicing business serving approximately 324,000 customers, and managed an investment portfolio. As of June 30, 2000, Bank United Corp. had assets of $18.2 billion, deposits of $8.8 billion, and stockholder's equity of $823 million.
EurekaBank was a Foster City, California, based bank, with primary operations in the San Francisco Bay Area. Formerly known as Eureka Federal Savings and Loan, based out of San Carlos, California, and known for a scandal in the 1980s involving John DeLorean. The bank operated 36 branches in the region, and was one of the largest local banks. Its overall existence was short, as it was acquired by Bay View Bank in 1998, less than ten years after it was founded as a replacement to the failed Eureka Federal Savings.
CenTrust Bank, A State Savings Bank was a Miami, Florida-based savings and loan. Its failure in 1990 was one of the largest and costliest failures of the savings and loan crisis.
American Savings and Loan Association was an American savings and loan based in Stockton, California. It was the largest thrift failure and the federal government's costliest resolution during the savings and loan crisis at an estimated cost of $5.4 billion.
Gibraltar Savings Association was a Houston, Texas based savings and loan. Its failure and resolution was one of the most expensive in the savings and loan crisis at an estimated cost of $2.875 billion.
Glendale Federal Savings and Loan Association, later Glendale Federal Bank, was one of the nation's largest federally chartered savings and loan association during the 1980s. It was long based in Los Angeles suburb Glendale, California, at 401 Brand Boulevard. The Glendale Federal brand was retired in 1998 when Glendale Federal was merged into California Federal Bank via a reverse merger engineered by Ronald Perelman and Gerald J. Ford, the owners of California Federal via their privately-owned First Nationwide Holding Inc.
