John Kanas is a rarity in US banking – a lucky banker. In 2006, at the height of the credit bubble, he sold North Fork, a lender based in New York City’s Long Island suburbs, for $15bn – and pocketed hundreds of millions of dollars of the proceeds himself.

During the financial crisis, Mr Kanas was able to watch in comfort as many better known bankers in New York lost their shirts. Now, he is back in the game – as the newly installed chief executive of BankUnited, a troubled Florida lender that has been bought by a consortium of investors including Mr Kanas, property magnate Richard Lefrak, the private equity firms of WL Ross, Blackstone, Carlyle, and Centerbridge Partners.