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                                                           (Firm Letterhead)







January 13, 2003


Securities and Exchange Commission
Washington, D.C. 20549


Ladies and Gentlemen:

     We are currently principal  accountants for BankAtlantic Bancorp, Inc. and,
under the date of January 29, 2002  (except for Note 24, as to which the date is
March 22,  2002),  we  reported  on the  consolidated  financial  statements  of
BankAtlantic  Bancorp,  Inc. as of and for the years ended December 31, 2001 and
2000.  On January 7, 2003,  we were notified  that  BankAtlantic  Bancorp,  Inc.
engaged  PriceWaterhouseCoopers  as its principal accountant for the year ending
December 31, 2003 and that the  auditor-client  relationship  with KPMG LLP will
cease upon completion of the audit of BankAtlantic Bancorp,  Inc.'s consolidated
financial  statements  as of and for the year ended  December 31, 2002,  and the
issuance  of our  report  thereon.  We have read  BankAtlantic  Bancorp,  Inc.'s
statements  included under Item 4 of its Form 8-K dated January 13, 2003, and we
agree with such  statements,  except  that we are not in a position  to agree or
disagree  with  BankAtlantic  Bancorp,  Inc.'s  statement  that the  change  was
approved by the Audit  Committee of the board of  directors  and we are not in a
position to agree or disagree with BankAtlantic  Bancorp,  Inc.'s statement that
PriceWaterhouseCoopers  were not engaged regarding the application of accounting
principles to a specified transaction or the type of audit opinion that might be
rendered on BankAtlantic Bancorp, Inc.'s consolidated financial statements.

Very truly yours,


/s/KPMG LLP
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KPMG LLP