JPMorgan Chase has acquired the banking operations of Washington Mutual which was seized by US regulators on Thursday night in the biggest bank failure in US history.

On Friday morning JPMorgan said it had sold $10bn in common stock to finance its acquisition - 25 per cent more than had been expected. Shares in JPMorgan were off about 3.4 per cent at $41.98 in the first half hour of New York trade; WaMu shares had lost nearly all their value.