Operating segment data (Details) (USD $)	3 Months Ended		12 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2014 segment	Mar. 31, 2013	Dec. 31, 2013
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Discontinued Operation, Income (Loss) from Discontinued Operation During Phase-out Period, Net of Tax	$ 0	$ 841,000
Noninterest Income	17,839,000	17,237,000
Rental revenue	4,446,000	822,000
Number of reportable operating segments	4
Separate account assets	4,675,098,000		4,625,099,000
Interest revenue	5,363,000	3,027,000
Other Revenue, Net	2,684,000	1,019,000
Revenues	30,332,000	22,105,000	30,332,000
Interest expense	5,962,000	3,835,000
Payroll expense	10,570,000	8,628,000
Professional fees	1,090,000	1,372,000
Other Expenses	12,470,000	8,703,000
Operating Expenses	30,092,000	22,538,000
Less net income attributable to noncontrolling interest	298,000	4,105,000
Income from discontinued operations, net	0	841,000
Provision for income tax	429,000	1,299,000
Net income available to common stockholders	1,025,000	1,318,000
Segment net income (loss)	240,000	(433,000)
Net Income (loss) of Consolidated VIEs	(2,006,000)	6,743,000
Segment assets	6,955,516,000	6,880,448,000	6,880,448,000
Less: non-controlling interest and net income attributable to the VIE subordinated noteholders	(3,220,000)	4,534,000
Consolidation Eliminations
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Noninterest Income	0	0
Rental revenue	0	(3,019,000)
Interest revenue	(3,824,000)	(3,486,000)
Other Revenue, Net	(143,000)	(169,000)
Intersegment revenues		(3,851,000)
Revenues	(7,413,000)	(10,525,000)
Interest expense	(78,000)	(1,444,000)
Payroll expense	11,000	0
Professional fees	(224,000)	0
Other Expenses	(31,000)	(2,908,000)
Operating Expenses	(322,000)	(4,352,000)
Net income available to common stockholders	(7,091,000)	(6,173,000)
Segment assets	1,357,897,000	1,366,620,000
Intersegment Elimination
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Intersegment revenues		0
Revenues	(3,446,000)
Insurance and insurance services | Operating Segments
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Noninterest Income	17,839,000	17,237,000
Rental revenue	0	0
Interest revenue	1,188,000	1,181,000
Other Revenue, Net	5,000	32,000
Revenues	19,032,000	18,450,000
Interest expense	2,914,000	3,134,000
Payroll expense	5,283,000	5,017,000
Professional fees	190,000	323,000
Other Expenses	8,274,000	8,177,000
Operating Expenses	16,661,000	16,651,000
Net income available to common stockholders	2,371,000	1,799,000
Segment assets	4,994,314,000	4,949,262,000
Insurance and insurance services | Intersegment Elimination
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Intersegment revenues		0
Revenues	0
Specialty finance | Operating Segments
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Noninterest Income	0	0
Rental revenue	0	0
Interest revenue	7,316,000	5,008,000
Other Revenue, Net	2,498,000	564,000
Revenues	9,892,000	5,689,000
Interest expense	2,148,000	494,000
Payroll expense	1,166,000	6,000
Professional fees	853,000	833,000
Other Expenses	1,777,000	574,000
Operating Expenses	5,944,000	1,907,000
Net income available to common stockholders	3,948,000	3,782,000
Segment assets	443,426,000	385,987,000
Specialty finance | Intersegment Elimination
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Intersegment revenues		117,000
Revenues	78,000
Asset management | Operating Segments
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Noninterest Income	0	0
Rental revenue	0	0
Interest revenue	0	0
Other Revenue, Net	95,000	137,000
Revenues	3,463,000	3,871,000
Interest expense	0	0
Payroll expense	2,312,000	3,219,000
Professional fees	216,000	216,000
Other Expenses	331,000	135,000
Operating Expenses	2,859,000	3,570,000
Net income available to common stockholders	604,000	301,000
Segment assets	9,743,000	7,896,000
Asset management | Intersegment Elimination
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Intersegment revenues		3,734,000
Revenues	3,368,000
Real estate | Operating Segments
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Noninterest Income	0	0
Rental revenue	4,446,000	3,841,000
Interest revenue	683,000	324,000
Other Revenue, Net	229,000	455,000
Revenues	5,358,000	4,620,000
Interest expense	978,000	1,651,000
Payroll expense	1,798,000	386,000
Professional fees	55,000	0
Other Expenses	2,119,000	2,725,000
Operating Expenses	4,950,000	4,762,000
Net income available to common stockholders	408,000	(142,000)
Segment assets	150,136,000	170,683,000
Real estate | Intersegment Elimination
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Intersegment revenues		0
Revenues	0
PFG
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Long-term servicing agreement, amount of COLI and BOLI administered by subsidiary	37,000,000,000
PFG | Insurance and insurance services
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Separate account assets	$ 4,675,098,000
Star Asia Finance, Limited
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Ownership percentage	17.00%
Star Asia Opportunity, LLC
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Ownership percentage	27.59%
Star Asia Opportunity II, LLC
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Ownership percentage	50.00%