Bank Sues Analyst for Defamation

NEW YORK -- Richard Bove, a prominent U.S. banking analyst, was sued on Monday by BankAtlantic Bancorp Inc, which accused him of defamation and negligence over a recently published research report, the bank told Reuters.

BankAtlantic Bancorp, of Fort Lauderdale, said on Monday that the report, issued by Richard X. Bove, an analyst at Ladenburg Thalmann Financial Services of Miami, had defamed the bank by suggesting that it might fail, the New York Times reported. Bove released the report after federal regulators seized IndyMac Bancorp on July 11 and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation began running the bank.

The bank said the lawsuit, filed in a state court in Broward County, Florida, pertained to a report dated July 13 and titled "Who Is Next?" according to Reuters. Alan Levan, BankAtlantic's chairman, said in a statement on Monday that BankAtlantic's financial condition showed that the bank did not belong on any list of lenders that might be "next" to fail.

The report by Bove, and similar bulletins by several other analysts, generated considerable reaction in the markets, the Times reported. Bove ranked 107 publicly traded banking companies by the percentage of their loans that were troubled, or nonperforming. BankAtlantic was No. 10 on that list.

-- NYSSCPA.org News Staff

Posted on 7/22/08