FBR's Miller sees problems for JPM's WaMu deal

NEW YORK (Reuters) - JPMorgan Chase & Co's (JPM.N) acquisition of Washington Mutual Inc's (WAMUQ.PK) assets last year could still cause some headaches for Chief Executive Jamie Dimon, according to bank analyst Paul Miller at FBR Capital Markets.

"Jamie's going to have some problems with the WaMu acquisition," Miller said at the Reuters Global Finance Summit in New York on Wednesday.

JPMorgan earlier this month finished converting WaMu accounts to its systems but Miller questioned the success of this conversion, particularly regarding the failed Seattle thrift's mortgage servicing unit.

"They've been told it's one system or platform but I doubt that's really true," he said. "The servicing side is a big operational risk," he added.

Soaring losses from mortgages and home equity loans felled WaMu last September. JPMorgan snapped up its banking operations from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation in a $1.9 billion deal that immediately boosted the New York bank's earnings.

But Miller voiced skepticism about the benefits of the deal. "Managing the overall risk of the business relationships of WaMu is probably also going to cause trouble," he said.

"A lot of people think Jamie got WaMu for free but I think when the day is done -- and that's going to be years, not tomorrow ... there's going to be some discussion about (whether he should) have done WaMu and how much money did he lose at WaMu," Miller said.

A spokesman for JPMorgan declined comment.

(Reporting by Elinor Comlay; editing by Matthew Lewis)