florida-housingI was browsing the FDIC’s website tonight, looking for bank closures (isn’t that what everyone does Friday night?). Anyhow, I happened to notice this announcement:

FDIC to Open a Temporary East Coast Satellite Office

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) today announced it will open a temporary satellite office in Jacksonville, Florida, to manage receiverships and to liquidate assets from failed financial institutions primarily located in the eastern states…

The new office will provide facilities for up to 500 nonpermanent staff and contractors. Staffing will be based on the workload needs of this office, based on the number of closings in the eastern states, the resulting number of receiverships, and the post-closing workload.

If history serves, the media will spin this as a positive on Monday, “500 new jobs created in Jacksonville”.

I’ve never seen a release like that before on the FDIC.gov. So I did some searching and come across an article titled, Tougher times lie ahead for Florida’s Banks. Here are some excerpts:

‘Two-thirds of Florida banks were losing money in the fourth quarter compared with one-third nationally,’ he said. ‘That is no doubt because Florida has been hit big by the housing crisis.’

By far Florida’s most urgent case is BankUnited, which has $14 billion in assets and is the largest financial institution based in the state. The Coral Gables-based thrift, which has disclosed that its capital is wiped out, is under a federal regulatory order to merge or find a buyer, with bids due by May 14. BankUnited got into financial trouble by making option adjustable rate mortgages that let borrowers choose repayment terms.

The next few months should be interesting.