Real estate woes keep hitting Florida banks

Coral Gables-based research firm BauerFinancial said banks in the state
are still reeling from bad loans that are eroding their balance sheets.
Karen Dorway, who heads the firm, called the third quarter one of the
messiest market observers have seen. Bauer cut the safety rating for
Coral Gables-based BankUnited to zero. New to the problem list is Fort Pierce-based
Riverside National Bank. It dropped to two stars, or “problematic,”
after a third-quarter loss of $27 million. Riverside is the largest
bank by far in St. Lucie County, where it holds 30 percent of deposits,
according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

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