Surprising: WaMu To Set Up Branch Expansion

Washington Mutual (WM) will step up its branch expansion in 2008, to between 100 and 150 new branches, from 78 in 2007.

I'm surprised. It's not as if the company has successful de novo branching down to a science, after all - and WaMu does have some other issues on its plate that will require a fair amount of management attention. Who needs the distraction?

Besides, even in the best outcome, the new locations won't likely turn profitable for 24 months. Then again, the company says it will expand in markets where it already has a presence, and so won't make any big pushes in new markets, such as its disastrous entry into Chicago.

So it's not as if it's totally oblivious to past mistakes...