RENEE MONTAGNE, host: In Seattle, executives from the nation's largest savings and loan are bracing for their annual meeting of shareholders, and it could be a rough day. Washington Mutual is awash in mortgage-related financial trouble. Its stock price has dropped by 75 percent, and angry shareholder groups are pushing to have some board members ousted.</s>RENEE MONTAGNE, host: NPR's Wendy Kaufman has more.</s>WENDY KAUFMAN: WaMu, as it's known, is practically drowning in subprime and other bad loans. It recently set aside three and a half billion dollars for mortgage defaults and foreclosures, and had to get a $7 billion cash infusion from a private equity group.</s>WENDY KAUFMAN: Shareholders have seen the value of their stock fall from about $40 a share a year ago to roughly $10 a share today. Many shareholders and others believe the WaMu board of directors hasn't exercised enough corporate oversight, and they want at least some of the board members replaced.</s>WENDY KAUFMAN: Rich Clayton of the union affiliated investment group CTW is among the board's harshest critics.</s>Mr. RICH CLAYTON (CTW): They have shown a remarkable lack of independence and leadership and initiative. And I think that they really had an opportunity to push senior management to dial back from the level of risk that they were taking, and they didn't do it.</s>WENDY KAUFMAN: WaMu countered by saying, in part, the board has a record of skill and diligence.</s>WENDY KAUFMAN: It's quite rare for shareholders to get enough no votes to push board members out. But as losses at major financial firms continue to mount, so will pressure on their boards. Boards at Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, Merrill Lynch and Wachovia are already under fire.</s>WENDY KAUFMAN: Wendy Kaufman, NPR News.
The nation's largest savings and loan, Washington Mutual, is practically drowning in bad loans. Now, some members of the company's board of directors may be on the way out.