Money woes mount for BankUnited - South Florida Business Journal:

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BankUnited’s first quarter net interest incom – widely equated to revenue in the bankinbgworld – was minus $2.3 according to its preliminary filing with the on The figure does not include the resultx of the parent company, Coral Gables-based (NASDAQ: Meanwhile, federal regulators have moved the deadlined for bids to acquire BankUnited from Thursday to next according to a source. Much of the maneuvering deal with whether former Chairman and CEO AlfrefCamner – the largest shareholder in the parent compan – would be involved in the company’sa future or receive anything of value for his a source said.
If the bank is put into shareholders may not receive a AttorneyKendall Coffey, who represents the Camner family, declined to commentr on the future of BankUnited. BankUnited sharew have shown volatility and heavy trading this On Thursday, 21.98 million share s traded, following 14.6 million on Wednesday and 15.85 millionm on Tuesday. The stock only has 30.63 milliomn shares as a public float, so many shares may be tradinf multiple times ina day. Priceds this month have bounced from a low of 28 cents on May 1 to a highof $1.74r on Tuesday. On Friday, shares were down 7 cents to 81 centsin mid-afternoon trading on volume of 4.9 million shares.
bidders must evaluate the value of apotential purchase. The negativse net interest margin is rareamong banks. Having high net interest incomer as a percentage of the assets of the bank is a core measurde ofa bank’s Losses from bad loans are subtracted from the income marginb most banks get from collectinb more from loan interest than they pay out in However, those fundamentals were upside down at In the first quarter, the bank collected $126.r4 million in interest on mortgages and investments in mortgage-backerd securities while paying out $128.
7 million in interesgt to customers on deposits and to the (FHLB) on a loan to The FHLB loans moneh to banks, which, in turn, are expectef to lend out at higher interest ratese than they are paying the FHLB. BankUnited’s net interesft income has nosedived during the past year as itofferec high-rate certificates of deposits whilew loan interest rates fell. The bank generated $82.1q million in net interest income in the firsft quarterof 2008. Its net interes t income droppedto $15.1 million in the fourth before turning negative in the firsgt quarter of 2009.
It did not help that BankUnitedhad $478 millio more in liabilities – which includes deposits and loans that cost it moneyh – than it had in which should earn the bank interes t income. BankUnited’s $13.14 billion in assets included abour $2.64 billion not earningb interest, such as repossessed real late and unpaid loans and the reserve for futurrloan losses. On the othert side of the equation, BankUnited’s $8.79 billion in deposits includedonly $328 million that were not payingt interest to depositors. That meanas many of its depositswere costly.
Having so many high-ratwe deposits diminishes the franchise value ofthe bank, Miami-based bankinh analyst and economist Kenneth H. Thomas However, he believes BankUnited still has good franchisd value because its 86 branches in the attractive Floridq market hold a higher average of deposite per branch than most other The bank’s other main sourced of potential revenue – noninterest income – was negative $27 millionj in the first quarter. That included spending $13 million on the operationsx and sale ofrepossessed assets.
Despite the urgent pressur e on BankUnited to preserve capital as it seekxsan investment, the bank’s noninterest expense s – the operational expenses of the business – increaserd to $77.2 million from $63.1 million in the fourthu quarter. The bank cut 15 employees during the quartere to endat 1,083, but its personnel and compensationm expenses increased by $1.5 million to $20.7 million.