Investment Securities (Trust Preferred Securities) (Details) (USD $) In Thousands, unless otherwise specified					9 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2012	Dec. 31, 2011	Sep. 30, 2011	Dec. 31, 2010	Sep. 30, 2012 Preferred Term Securities IV [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 Preferred Term Securities VII [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 TPREF Funding II [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 TPREF Funding III [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 Trapeza CDO I, LLC [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 ALESCO Preferred Funding IV [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 ALESCO Preferred Funding V [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 Trust Preferred Securities [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Trust Preferred Securities [Member]
Class / Tranche					Mezzanine Notes	Mezzanine Notes	Class B Notes	Class B2 Notes	Class C1 Notes	Class B1 Notes	Class C1 Notes
Available-for-sale Securities, Amortized Cost Basis	$ 190,905	$ 174,396			$ 49	$ 1,658	$ 742	$ 1,521	$ 556	$ 604	$ 820	$ 5,950	$ 6,375
Available-for-sale Securities	192,529	174,323			40	1,114	336	731	215	272	408	3,116	3,410
Gross Unrealized Losses	(3,484)	(4,569)			(9)	(544)	(406)	(790)	(341)	(332)	(412)	(2,834)	(2,965)
Lowest Credit Rating Assigned					CCC	C	C	C	C	C	C
Number of banks currently performing					5	8	18	17	11	36	39	134
Deferrals / Defaults as % of Current Balance					27.00%	64.00%	39.00%	39.00%	53.00%	29.00%	33.00%	40.00%
Conditional Default Rates for 2013 and beyond					0.40%	0.59%	0.37%	0.44%	0.52%	0.37%	0.36%
Cumulative OTTI Life to Date	$ 3,956	$ 3,925	$ 3,925	$ 3,883		$ 2,173	$ 257	$ 480	$ 470	$ 396	$ 180	$ 3,956