FBI Searches Doral Bank Offices - Future of Doral Direct?

Doral Financial offices in Puerto Rico were raided on Tuesday by the FBI as part of an investigation involving the bank. The FBI didn’t comment on the raid or on the investigation. The New York Times has more details of the raid.

It’s another sign of troubles from Doral Bank. This NYT article has a history of the troubles that Doral Bank has experienced. The bank has been hurt by past management fraud and a weak Puerto Rican economy. The bank is still having financial problems, and it’s currently operating under a prompt corrective action (PCA) from the FDIC requiring the bank to submit a capital restoration plan. The NYT reported that the bank has recently received notice from the FDIC that its capital restoration plan was inadequate and must be resubmitted. Doral Bank has a financial health grade of an "F" at Depositaccounts.com based on September 2014 data.

Thanks to DA member paulaj who reported on this news in the DA forum. As he mentioned, "while the failure of these banking institutions may or may not be imminent, this raid is a good reminder to stay within FDIC insurance limits at all times."

Most of the Doral Bank branches are located in Puerto Rico, but Doral also has branches in New York City and in the Florida Panhandle. It also operates the internet bank Doral Direct. The bank has different websites and offers different rates for each region. It also offer different rates at Doral Direct. Its NYC rates have long been very competitive. It’s interesting to note that most of Doral Direct’s rates are much lower, and they all are just below the FDIC rate caps. The FDIC requires banks that are categorized as "less than well capitalized" to maintain deposit rates below these rate caps. I’m not sure why Doral Bank NY rates are above these rate caps.