WASHINGTON - THE chief executive of failed Washington Mutual and five other senior executives of the largest US thrift, now owned by JPMorgan Chase, are leaving their positions soon.

Employees of Seattle-based WaMu were told on Thursday that Chief Executive Officer Alan H. Fishman and the other executives are departing.

A memo to employees from Charlie Scharf, CEO of JPMorgan Chase's retail financial services, said the combination of the two companies made their positions redundant.

The employees also were told they will be informed by Dec 1 whether their jobs will continue - which will be the case for most of the 43,000 employees - moved to other jobs or eliminated, JPMorgan Chase spokesman Tom Kelly said.

Fishman held the job only a few weeks before Washington Mutual was seized by the government on Sept 25 and sold to the Wall Street investment bank for US$1.9 billion (S$2.74 billion).

He is not taking any of the multimillion-dollar severance pay under the employment contract he signed with WaMu, a spokesman for Fishman said on Thursday.

It is doubtful that Fishman would be entitled to severance payments because of regulations governing the disposition of the thrift's holding company, the spokesman said, but in any event he is not accepting severance under these circumstances.

Mr Fishman's employment agreement with WaMu provides around US$6 million in cash severance and retention of his US$7.5 million signing bonus if he leaves his job, according to a company filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Mr Fishman's spokesman declined to say whether he planned to keep the signing bonus.

The board of WaMu reached out to Mr Fishman to replace Mr Kerry Killinger as CEO as the thrift was in a downward financial spiral, struggling with cascading losses from soured mortgages.

On Sept 8, the same day WaMu announced Mr Fishman's appointment as chief executive, the bank signed an agreement with federal regulators to provide an updated business plan and forecast for its financial performance. -- AP