BankUnited has stopped offering retail residential mortgage loans to consumers and laid off some of its workers.

South Florida’s largest locally based bank said new residential mortgages weren’t generating enough business but current mortgage holders won’t be left in the lurch.

“We remain committed to honoring all of our current loan commitments,” said Mary Harris, a spokeswoman for BankUnited.

Harris said the Miami Lakes-headquartered bank is maintaining other aspects of its mortgage business, including mortgage warehousing, buying mortgages around the country and its servicing business. She declined to say to how many workers had been laid off.

South Florida banking consultant Ken Thomas said he was “shocked” by the news.

“One of the biggest needs we have in this community is affordable housing, and when you have the biggest South Florida-based bank backing off residential mortgage lending that raises eyebrows,” he said. “If a small bank did this, that’s one thing. But this is BankUnited.”

Thomas said BankUnited’s private-equity owners may be positioning the bank for a sale. The bank received a $4.9 billion federal government bailout after failing in 2009 because of bad mortgage loans it made during the real estate boom.

(Only IndyMac Bank’s $11 billion failure was more costly for the government during the last downturn.)

“This is not a great result for taxpayers, especially in one of the most economically lopsided communities in the nation,” Thomas said.

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The Miami Herald