BankUnited Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:BKUNA), parent company of
BankUnited FSB, announced today that effective immediately it will
temporarily suspend foreclosures on owner-occupied homes until the
Treasury Department's Financial Stability Plan home loan modification
program is finalized in the next few weeks.
"We want to help people remain in their homes,” said Ramiro Ortiz,
BankUnited's president and chief executive officer. "The challenging
economic climate, continued job losses and financial pressures are
affecting our customers. Treasury's plan may provide different avenues
of relief for consumers, and we don't want them to miss an opportunity
to take advantage of the program.”
About BankUnited
BankUnited Financial Corp. is the holding company for BankUnited FSB,
the largest banking institution headquartered in Florida. At June 30,
2008, BankUnited had assets of $14.2 billion.
Serving customers through 85 branches in 13 coastal counties of Florida,
including Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, Martin, St. Lucie, Collier,
Charlotte, Manatee, Hillsborough, Sarasota, Lee, Indian River and
Pinellas, BankUnited offers a full spectrum of consumer and commercial
banking products and services, including online products that can be
accessed through http://www.bankunited.com.
For additional information, call (877) 779-2265.
Forward Looking Statements
This notice contains certain forward-looking statements, as defined in
Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities
Act”), and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as
amended (the "Exchange Act”). Forward-looking statements are statements
that are not historical facts and, without limitation, include
predictions, forecasts, indications or discussions of future results,
performances or achievements. Certain statements including words such
as: "will likely result,” "expect,” "will continue,” "anticipate,”
"estimate,” "project,” "believe,” "intend,” "will,” "should,” "would,”
"could,” "may,” "can,” "plan,” "target” and similar expressions, are
intended to be "forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 ("PSLRA”). In
particular, statements relating to future actions, trends in the
Company’s business, prospective services or products, future performance
or financial results and the outcome of contingencies, such as legal
proceedings, are considered forward-looking statements. The Company
claims the protection afforded by the safe harbor for forward-looking
statements provided by the PSLRA.
Forward-looking statements may include, but are not limited to, the
estimates of our fiscal year 2008 end and first quarter of fiscal year
2009 financial results, discussions concerning national and regional
business and economic conditions, fiscal and monetary policies; changes
in interest rates; deterioration in the general economy and the credit
markets; changes in policy or discretionary decisions by the FHLB or the
Federal Reserve; a reduced demand for credit; a decrease in deposit
flows, loan demand or deposits or other customers; risks associated with
residential mortgage lending or the decline in the housing market,
including, without limitation, continued deterioration in credit
quality, reduced real estate values and slower sales, interest rate
changes, payment elections by borrowers of option ARM loans and
deterioration in the ability of borrowers to repay their loans and other
debts; uncertainty about the effectiveness of the U.S. Treasury’s
Troubled Asset Relief Program Capital Purchase Program ("TARP”);
competition from other financial service companies in the Company’s
markets; potential or actual actions by regulators, including, without
limitation, receivership based upon the Company’s inability to comply
with the Order requiring the Bank to have a certain level of capital
ratios as of December 31, 2008, new, changed or increased regulatory
restrictions and the ability to comply with such restrictions; the
outcome of existing and any new legal proceedings against the Company,
including adverse decisions in significant actions including, but not
limited to, actions brought by federal and state authorities and class
action cases; changes in regulations, laws, policies or standards,
including, among others, changes in accounting standards, guidelines and
policies; volatility in the market price of the Company’s common stock;
unfavorable conditions in the capital markets; the possible loss of key
personnel; the possible inability to successfully implement strategic
initiatives, and other economic, competitive, servicing capacity,
governmental, regulatory and technological factors affecting the
Company’s operations, price, products and delivery of services; the
possibility that the commercial loan, commercial real estate loan and
consumer loan market may continue to deteriorate; the possible inability
to successfully raise and maintain capital needed to continue
operations; the outcome of tax audits; the issuance, redemption or
deferral of payments on the Company’s debt or equity; the concentration
of operations in Florida; reliance on other companies for products and
services; acts of terrorism, war, other man-made or natural disasters,
including hurricanes, that may adversely affect the Company’s business
and operations.
The Company is not able to make any assurances, including but not
limited to any assurances that the increased rate of sale of foreclosed
homes will continue in future periods; that the percentage of unsold
homes in escrow or under negotiation will be representative of the
number or percentage of homes sold in future periods; that the Company
will be able to attract or maintain the needed complement of accounting
personnel to remediate the material weaknesses on a timely basis; that
the Company will have adequate liquidity in future periods; that Company
will be able to regain its status of "well-capitalized;” or that the
regulatory authorities will not take enforcement action against the
Bank, such as placing the Bank into receivership.
Actual results or performance could differ from those implied or
contemplated by forward-looking statements. The Company wishes to
caution readers not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking
statements, which speak only as of the date made, and are not historical
facts or guarantees of future performance. Other factors that could
cause actual results to differ materially are: (i) other risks and
uncertainties described from time to time in the Company’s filings with
the SEC, (ii) other risks and uncertainties that have not been
identified at this time. Information in this notice is solely as of the
dates, and for the periods, indicated. The Company does not undertake,
and specifically disclaims any obligation, to publicly update or revise
any forward-looking statements to reflect the occurrence of anticipated
or unanticipated events or circumstances after the date of such
statements, whether as the result of new information, future events or
otherwise. In light of these risks, uncertainties and assumptions, the
forward-looking events discussed in or incorporated by reference into
this report might not occur.