BankAtlantic Bancorp., weighed down by continuing loan losses, posted a third-quarter net loss of $38.4 million compared with a loss of $6.1 million in the year-ago quarter.

The Fort Lauderdale-based bank holding company, a major real estate lender, said the wider loss was driven primarily by bigger loan-loss provisions.

Its commercial real estate, consumer and residential real estate loan portfolios were the prime reasons for setting aside additional funds to cushion against losses.

The company also has been bulking up with plenty of capital to muscle through the protracted downturn, said Alan B. Levan, chairman and chief executive officer of BankAtlantic Bancorp. And it is focused on running a lean operation that relies more on low-cost core deposits and less on borrowings.

``We're told the national recession is over and things are stabilizing. I think Florida is going to lag the national economy by a few quarters,'' Levan said. ``Unfortunately, I don't have a crystal ball to tell me just when [the Florida economy will turn around]. I think we're bumping off the bottom.''

BankAtlantic raised $76 million in capital from existing shareholders during the third quarter through a stock-rights offering. Of that, the parent plowed $75 million into its bank unit to boost capital levels. ``As a result, BankAtlantic's regulatory capital ratios are at their highest levels in the last decade,'' Levan said.

Tier 1 risk-based capital, a measure of financial strength, was 11.6 percent -- far above the 6-percent benchmark that regulators consider ``well capitalized.''

For the third quarter, the company charged off $43.1 million in bad debts and set aside a loan-loss provision of $52.2 million, increasing its loan-loss allowance to $166 million.

``We're taking our write-downs and increasing our [loan loss] provisions in accordance with regulatory policy and as valuations require,'' Levan said.

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