What We're Hearing

John Kanas, the former CEO of North Fork Bank of Long Island, knows a bit about bank failures. In 2004 North Fork bought GreenPoint Financial, a huge player in the alt-A business, and then a few years later flipped the combined franchise to Capital One. He, smartly, got out of the business while the getting-was-good. A year ago he re-entered with private equity money to reap his rewards by purchasing the failed BankUnited of Florida whose fortunes were sunk by residential payment option ARMs. There's nothing wrong with riding the cycles of financial services. And based on his maneuvers in regard to GreenPoint-Northfork-Capital One, it appears that Mr. Kanas is one of the best market timers around in banking/mortgages. When he says something, people listen. He told CNBC on Wednesday that he is standing by his prediction that a thousand banks will fail in the next year or two. The FDIC's internal projection is for at least 400 banks to fail this year...