"In any kind of combination like this, there will be some overlap. Some people will lose their jobs," Tom Kelly of JPMorgan Chase said in an interview Friday afternoon.

Kelly flew to Seattle overnight, hours after the government seized, then sold Washington Mutual for $1.9 billion to JPMorgan Chase.

"We try to keep (job cuts) to a minimum. We try to treat them well and respectfully, but that, that is part of what's going to happen," Kelly told KIRO 7 Eyewitness News reporter Deborah Horne.

Kelly said local WaMu branches are unlikely to close because they are part of what made the struggling thrift so attractive to the New York-based financial giant.

"In the state of Washington, the city of Seattle, Chase doesn't have any branches. There's no need to close branches that WaMu has -- none."

Kelly noted that WaMu customers will now be customers of a bigger, more financially sound institution.