Washington Mutual to close branches

Washington Mutual told employees Friday it intends to close 25 local branches and cut about 150 jobs.

The cutbacks are scheduled to be made by mid-April and will leave Washington Mutual with 121 locations and 2,000 area employees, according to the firm.

Most of the closings will occur in the Chicago suburbs, including Buffalo Grove, Des Plaines, Mount Prospect, Naperville and Schaumburg, the firm said.

The Seattle-based institution downplayed the importance of the closings, noting it remains committed to opening new locations this year and has hired former Chase executive vice president Carl McWherter to lead local operations.

"We're still actively engaged in finding new stores in the Chicago area," said Shane Winn, Washington Mutual spokesman.

Winn added the institution is upping its area marketing budget this year by 29 percent.

Its last layoff was September 2006, when it closed 28 of its 172 stores. Most of those closings happened in Lake and McHenry counties.

The layoffs come on the heals of Bank of America's buyout of LaSalle Bank last year and the subsequent announcement in September that 2,500 banking jobs in Illinois will be eliminated.

Across the country, Washington Mutual intends to close about 40 stores, Winn said. But Chicago is where the main concentration of closings are scheduled. Winn said no company estimate on savings from the cuts was available.

Washington Mutual entered the Chicago market like a storm front in 2003, aggressively hiring employees and opening stores.