September 15, 2009

PRESS RELEASE FROM THE INTERNATIONAL UNION OF OPERATING ENGINEERS (IUOE)
Contact: Jeff Fiedler 202-778-2648

BANK OF FLORIDA CORPORATION HAS MORE “INSIDER LOANS” THAN
ANY OTHER BANK HOLDING COMPANY IN THE STATE OF FLORIDA

September 15, 2009, Washington, D.C: The International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE) today announced the results of research it has conducted into the “insider loan” activity of the three principal banking subsidiaries of the Bank of Florida Corporation, the tenth largest bank holding company in Florida, whose headquarters is in Naples.

“The Bank of Florida Corporation, while the 10th largest bank holding company in the state (as measured by assets/deposits) ranks 1st in “insider loans” with $110,046,000 of outstanding loans as of June 30, 2009”, said Jeffrey Fiedler, the IUOE Director of Special Projects and Initiatives.

Using the latest publicly available information on the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) website – http://www2.fdic.gov/idasp/main.asp - the IUOE examined other aspects of “insider loan” activity at the Bank of Florida.

“One of the more shocking comparisons is that from June 30, 2008 to June 30, 2009 the net increase of all insider loans at the nine (9) largest bank holding companies in Florida was $14,213,000, but Bank of Florida Corporation subsidiaries’ insider loans alone increased $26,626,000,” Fiedler said. “It is somewhat strange that a single, relatively modest sized bank holding company is responsible for nearly twice as much new insider lending as the next nine (9) larger bank holding companies combined,” he continued.

Also, the IUOE researchers looked at the growth of “insider loans” as compared to the growth of “net loans and leases” (to all borrowers) for the June 30, 2008 to June 30, 2009 period.

The total increase from one year to the next in net loans was $64,070,000. In other words, in the period from June 30, 2008 to June 30, 2009, the Bank of Florida banks increased lending by $64 million. “The shocking fact is that of this $64 million increase - $26.6 million or 42% of the increase went to insiders”, Fiedler stated.

U.S. Century Bank in Doral, which is not part of a bank holding company is the only banking institution in Florida with more insider loans outstanding than the three Bank of Florida subsidiaries – Bank of Florida-Southwest (Naples), Bank of Florida-Southeast (Ft. Lauderdale) and Bank of Florida-Tampa Bay (Tampa). U.S. Century Bank’s insider loans totaled $111,857,000 versus the Bank of Florida total of $110,046,000.

“To put these numbers into perspective,” Fiedler continued, “consider that Suntrust, a bank system with slightly over $124 billion in deposits nationwide, has insider loans of $98.3 million. The three Bank of Florida subsidiaries as a whole have $1.1 billion in deposits and U.S. Century Bank has deposits of only $1.5 billion, but both have over $110 million each in insider loans.

The IUOE, a union with 408,000 members throughout the United States and Canada, uncovered this information when researching Florida-based non-union crane rental companies and their customers. Two of the directors of the Bank of Florida Corporation, Terry W. Stiles and Donald R. Barber, are affiliated with construction companies that use at least one of the non-union crane companies.

“Whenever we come across information we think our members and the public should have, especially about banking institutions, we intend to make it public,” Fiedler said.

A list of the top 25 Florida banks by amount of insider loans along with other supporting documentation for the information in this release is shown below.

Top 25 Individual Banks in Florida by Amount of Insider Loans as of June 30, 2009

Summary information from the FDIC on the top ten (10) bank holding companies in Florida and U.S. Century Bank below:

Top 25 Florida Holding Companies by Assets/Deposits

The IUOE is not affiliated with the FDIC or any federal agency.