WaMu Board Given New Orders

Shareholders of Washington Mutual yesterday asked that CEO Kerry Killinger give up his role as chairman and that the two roles be permanently divided. The Seattle-based savings and loan also said that Mary Pugh, who chaired its finance committee, had resigned amid steep losses attributed to subprime mortgages.. Bowing to pressure from some investors, Washington Mutual also reversed a decision to ignore mortgage losses when awarding perfomance bonuses to top executives, including Killinger and Chief Operating Officer Stephen Rotella. Shareholders voted in favor of a proposal to appoint an independent director as chairman. The non-binding resolution will be taken into consideration at the next meeting of the board.