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View detailsThe largest bank failure in Florida history
In May 2009, federal regulators seized BankUnited FSB, a Coral Gables-based thrift that had gorged on option-ARM mortgages during the Florida housing bubble. With $12.8 billion in assets, it was the largest bank failure in Florida history and one of the costliest of the entire financial crisis. BankUnited had concentrated its lending in South Florida real estate during the most inflated housing market in the country, offering payment-option ARMs that allowed borrowers to pay less than the interest owed — with the unpaid interest added to the principal. When Florida home prices collapsed, the loans defaulted at catastrophic rates. A textbook case of confusing a bubble for a business model.
Rebuilding with private equity discipline
Almost immediately after the seizure, a private equity consortium led by John Kanas — a legendary New York banker who had built and sold North Fork Bank — acquired the failed bank's deposits and a portion of its assets. Kanas brought what the old BankUnited lacked: rigorous underwriting discipline and a strategy focused on commercial and business banking rather than residential mortgages.
The new BankUnited went public in January 2010, less than a year after the failure, raising $900 million in one of the fastest post-failure IPOs in banking history. Under Kanas the bank rebuilt as a commercial-focused institution serving South Florida's business community — real estate developers, healthcare companies, and international businesses with ties to Latin America and the Caribbean. By the time Kanas retired in 2018, BankUnited had grown to over $30 billion in assets with a completely different risk profile than its predecessor.
Routing number
BankUnited's routing number is 267090473. The 267 prefix ties to the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, which serves the Florida district. This applies to all BankUnited deposit accounts — personal and business checking, savings, and money market — across its Florida and New York operations. Use it for domestic wire transfers and ACH payments. Verify on your checks, through BankUnited online banking, or at any branch.
South Florida as a banking market
South Florida functions as a gateway to Latin America and the Caribbean, with significant cross-border capital flows, a multilingual business community, and industries — hospitality, real estate development, international trade — that require banking comfortable with complexity. BankUnited serves this market with bilingual banking teams, international wire capabilities, and an understanding of the regulatory nuances that come with cross-border business. It occupies a useful middle ground: large enough to handle sophisticated commercial transactions, local enough to maintain the relationship-driven service South Florida business owners expect.
Built from failure, built for control
BankUnited's resurrection shows what's possible when a financial institution is rebuilt with discipline and clear-eyed risk management. Slash brings that same philosophy to business spending — corporate cards that enforce policies automatically, expense management that eliminates manual processes, and real-time dashboards that ensure finance teams always know exactly where the money is going.
