“JPMorgan Chase’s attempt to get the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. to pay part of its pending $13 billion settlement with the Justice Department is just the latest chapter in a long-running dispute over the nation’s largest bank failure.

“The FDIC’s 2008 sale of the $307 billion-asset Washington Mutual Bank’s operations to JPMorgan was at the time almost anticlimactic, projected to cost the Deposit Insurance Fund nothing and granting Wamu customers an easy transition to a new bank.

“But observers say Wamu’s size, toxic portfolio and the fact that it was one of the crisis’ early collapses contributed to years of subsequent battles over which party – the FDIC or JPMorgan Chase – is responsible for legal claims against the failed institution.

“The battle has the potential now to disrupt JPMorgan’s settlement with the government over an array of mortgage complaints, including those inherited from Wamu.”

***

Read full American Banker article here