In a post earlier this month ( http://shortscreen.com... ) I mentioned a potential source of bank short ideas, banks rated "outstanding" by the FDIC for their compliance with the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA):

"To the extent that the CRA (Community Reinvestment Act) compels banks to lend to poor credit risks, a bank rated "outstanding" in its compliance with the CRA would seem to be an interesting prospect for shorting. "

Central Pacific Bank Financial is one of the banks rated "outstanding" by the FDIC for its CRA compliance ( http://www.fdic.gov/re... ). In addition, CPF has a zero star rating from Bauer Financial ( http://bauerfinancial.... ), which is Bauer's lowest rating. According to Bauer Financial,

" Zero-Stars is our lowest star rating. These institutions are included on our Troubled & Problematic Report and are facing considerable challenges at this time."

My limit order to pick up a few puts on CPF got filled today: the Dec 10 $2.50s at $1.30.

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