As they round the clubhouse turn, moving up on the inside post, its Florida’s BankUnited FSB.
We have a new winner for the biggest bank failure this year: Expect this debacle to cost the FDIC’s insurance fund $4.9 billion.
BankUnited moves into the 2nd place position in recent years, behind only IndyMac Bank, which cost the FDIC $11 billion. (Schumer!)
WSJ:
BankUnited’s failure is a stark reminder of how fragile many banks in the country remain. The U.S.’s 19 biggest banks this month performed better than expected on government “stress tests” and several large and midsize banks in recent weeks have successfully raised capital through public stock offerings. Government officials say they are still concerned, though, about dozens of banks across the country that made bad bets on real estate, and these troubles will likely continue to ripple through the financial system.
BankUnited Financial Corp., the ailing Florida lender, was shut by federal regulators and its assets were sold to private-equity firms including WL Ross & Co. and Carlyle Group in the largest U.S. bank failure this year. The group’s purchase of the bank, deemed “critically undercapitalized” by the Office of Thrift Supervision, was the “least costly” resolution, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said today in a statement. The closing will cost the insurance fund $4.9 billion, pushing the total cost of 34 seizures so far this year to more than $10 billion.
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Previously:
Office of Thrift Supervision: Asshat Central (December 24th, 2008)
http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2008/12/ots-asshat-central/
Sources:
BankUnited Fails in Year’s Biggest Bust
DAMIAN PALETTA and JOE BEL BRUNO
WSJ, May 22, 2009
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124294168567644901.html
BankUnited Shuttered, Assets Sold to Kanas-Led Group
Jonathan Keehner and Linda Shen
Bloomberg, May 21, 2009
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aSXxrVqwoLGM
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