WaMu CEO could get $13.65 million for 18 days work

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The chief executive of the failed savings and loan Washington Mutual Inc WM.N could get $13.65 million for the 18 days he was on the job, a regulatory filing shows.

Alan Fishman was awarded a $7.5 million signing bonus when he joined the Seattle-based thrift on Sept 7, according to a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

His employment agreement also provided for a $6.15 million lump sum payment as severance if he were terminated without cause, the filing shows.

Washington Mutual hired the former chief executive of Brooklyn, New York-based Independence Community Bank Corp to help the thrift rebound from soaring mortgage losses.

That plan was derailed when depositors started to quickly withdraw their money, prompting federal regulators on Thursday to close the thrift and broker a sale of most of its banking operations to JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) for $1.9 billion. The holding company was not part of the sale.

A Washington Mutual spokesman did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

Some Congressional lawmakers negotiating a proposed $700 billion bailout for the financial services industry have called for limits on compensation and so-called "golden parachutes" for departing executives.

In a conference call with reporters on Friday, JPMorgan Chief Executive Jamie Dimon said he was unaware of Fishman's possible status with his bank.

"I would assume at this point that Alan is an employee of the holding company," he said. "We're not buying it, we're not responsible for it and I really don't know what's going to happen to him."

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel; Additional reporting by Elinor Comlay; Editing by Bernard Orr)