by Laura Conaway

For the past couple of weeks, we've all been hearing that Washington Mutual is on the ropes. With Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley all heading for cover, the rush for higher ground is on.

Now comes news that the U.S. Office of Thrift Supervision (love the name) is about to move in. From the Financial Times:

If no outright buyer emerges in the coming days, the regulator could push to broker a deal that would split WaMu between several banks. The consortium would share WaMu's attractive deposit base and retail branch network, and would also share the bank's troubled mortgage portfolio.

(H/T: Calculated Risk)