BankUnited Financial Corp. of Coral Gables, Fla., said last week that its chief financial officer, Clifford A. Hope, has resigned.
Diane Delella, vice president and controller of the thrift company, was named acting CFO. Mr. Hope, 50, had been CFO since April, when he succeeded longtime bank executive Samuel A. Milne.
Mr. Hope's sudden departure was seen as a reshaping of the management team under Medhi Ghomeshi, who became BankUnited's president and chief operating officer Dec. 1. Mr. Ghomeshi, who reports to chairman and chief executive officer Alfred R. Camner, said in a interview that he has begun the search for a permanent CFO. He described the position as key to turning the thrift around.
"My objective is to have a management team that would help" the company "reach its goals and objectives," Mr. Ghomeshi said. Mr. Hope, he said, "wanted to move on."
"The CFO position will play a key role in my organization," he added.
A South Florida market president for the former Barnett Banks Inc., Mr. Ghomeshi is responsible for revitalizing the $3.7 billion-asset BankUnited. The company has lost money on its mortgage-backed securities portfolio, putting a strain on profits. It blamed the problems on low interest rates.
BankUnited earned $6.5 million, or 39 cents a share, for the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30. That compared with $4.7 million, or 54 cents a share, earned in fiscal 1997. The 1998 returns on equity and assets were a meager 4.53% and 0.24%, respectively. Thrifts of comparable size average 11.83% ROE and 1.08% ROA, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
Analysts said Mr. Hope was not "critical" to the operation of BankUnited. "This company didn't rely very much on a CFO," said analyst Deborah Beylus of JW Genesis/CSG in Boca Raton, Fla.
Mr. Hope, who could not be reached for comment, had worked as a consultant for BankUnited before becoming CFO, the analyst said. Given Mr. Hope's background, "I don't think it was a very good fit."
Mr. Ghomeshi faces a steep challenge with BankUnited, Ms. Beylus said. "They have a solid franchise, and South Florida is a good market. They're in the right place. They just have to ride out this interest rate environment."
"They have to clean their act up," she added. "They need to get their management in place."
