Only 30 Florida banks ranked 'weakest' in new quarterly rankings

The winnowing of Florida's most troubled banks continues, suggesting the worst of the state's bank failures is over. New quarterly rankings out Wednesday show a notable decrease in so-called "zero star" banks from rating firm Bauer Financial. Based on first-quarter data just analyzed by Bauer, only 30 Florida-based banks received a "zero star" or weakest financial ranking on Bauer's scale of 0 (weakest) to five (strongest). That compares to 39 zero star banks a quarter earlier based on year-end 2011 data. Of the recent 30 zero star banks, only one — Heritage Bank of Florida in Lutz — is in the immediate Tampa Bay area.