Morgan Keegan Taps Industry Veterans; Remains Committed to Municipal Clients

Morgan Keegan & Company, Inc. announced the hiring of nine municipal banking, sales and trading professionals in the Northeast, the second expansion in that market in just over a year.

The new hires include industry veterans from UBS Investment Bank, JP Morgan Securities, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America Securities and the former Bear Stearns & Company. In Morgan Keegan’s New York City office, new employees join investment banking veteran Mike Tierney, who was hired last year as a managing director after a 27-year investment banking career at Goldman, Sachs & Company.

"Despite the changes in the industry today, we continue to focus on our clients and to look for opportunities to better serve them and to expand the services we offer. One way to do that is to attract the best of the best to the Morgan Keegan team,” said Robert A. Baird, president of the firm’s Fixed Income Capital Markets division and head of public finance investment banking. "We’re proud that this respected and experienced group of professionals shares our commitment to the municipal market and to the clients we serve.”

Morgan Keegan’s Fixed Income Capital Markets division is recognized as one of the largest institutional fixed income operations off Wall Street. The division encompasses more than 500 professionals in bond research, sales, trading, underwriting and investment banking. Morgan Keegan was the 11^th leading senior manager of long term municipal issues in the nation in 2007, according to Thomson Reuters.

Joining Morgan Keegan as part of the firm's expansion in the Northeast are:

Donald O’Brien, Managing Director, Senior Municipal Underwriter, New York

With 29 years’ experience in the municipal industry, O’Brien is responsible for the Northeast market and for working with national level issuers and investors. He spent the past 21 years at Morgan Stanley in New York, most recently as a managing director in the firm’s global capital markets division. In 1996, he began his tenure as head of the firm’s national municipal underwriting desk. O’Brien has served on the MSRB for the past three years, finishing his term this year as vice-chairman. He has served for many years on multiple SIFMA committees and has been a member of the Municipal Bond Club of New York (MBCNY) since 1983.

Chris Durso, Senior Vice President, Municipal Trader, New York

Durso is an industry veteran who joins Morgan Keegan after 23 years at Bear Stearns, serving most recently as a senior managing director. In addition to participating in the pricing and marketing of Bear’s senior-managed municipal product, Durso was in charge of all trading of the long end of the municipal curve, with particular focus on high-grade revenue bonds, housing and the tobacco sector. He is responsible for all institutional long-end trading at Morgan Keegan.

Joseph Tait, Managing Director, National Housing Group, New York

Tait, formerly with UBS, joins Morgan Keegan’s housing finance group as a managing director in New York. He is an industry veteran with over 20 years’ experience working with several Wall Street firms in mortgage and housing finance, most recently serving as an executive director at UBS. Tait adds significant experience to Morgan Keegan’s already strong team of housing professionals and their long-standing commitment to housing issuers around the country. The firm consistently ranks as one of the nation’s leading housing bond underwriters, according to Thomson Reuters.

Robert Coven, Managing Director, Public Finance Banking, New York

Coven, a 20-year industry veteran, joins Morgan Keegan’s public finance team from UBS in New York, where he most recently served as an executive director in the municipal securities group. As a senior investment banker, Coven managed over $20 billion in negotiated tax-exempt and taxable financings for issuers in the New England region. Coven will focus on serving municipal clients in the Northeast region.

Alexander Shih, First Vice President, Public Finance Banking, New York

Shih joins Morgan Keegan following 10 years at UBS, where he most recently served as a director in the municipal securities group. He has executed or managed over $8.5 billion in senior managed negotiated financings for numerous issuers in the Northeast. Shih will focus on expanding services to municipal issuers throughout the Northeast region.

Rick Simonsen, Senior Vice President, Municipal Sales, Boston

Simonsen brings 22 years’ experience to the firm. Previously with Bank of America Securities, he most recently served as a principal and senior sales representative, where he was responsible for tier one accounts. Simonsen was charged with opening Bank of America’s municipal sales office in Boston in 2001. Prior to that, he was hired by Wachovia Securities in Boston to open the firm’s first regional municipal office.

William Hannan, Vice President, Municipal Sales, New York

Hannan gained 20 years’ experience in muni sales at several New York firms including Dean Witter Reynolds, Raymond James & Associates and, most recently, at JP Morgan where he was a vice president in institutional sales. Hannan received a bachelor’s degree from New York University School of Business and Public Administration, an MBA from Fordham University and a master’s degree from Columbia University.

Garrett Ferris, Vice President, Municipal Sales, New York

Ferris is a former associate director at Bear Stearns with 12 years’ experience in muni sales. His accounts included insurance companies, mutual funds, money managers and foreign taxable buyers. Ferris was also responsible for marketing multiple products including tax-exempt and taxable municipal bonds, high-yield municipal bonds and derivative products.

Kiran Patel, Associate Vice President, Municipal Sales, New York

Patel also joins Morgan Keegan from JP Morgan Securities where he was an associate in muni sales. His experience includes municipal bonds, taxable municipal bonds, municipal derivatives and Tender Option Bond (TOB) programs. Prior to that, Patel was with BlackRock, Inc. in New York. He is a 2001 graduate of New York University’s Leonard N. Stern School of Business.

About Morgan Keegan & Company, Inc.

Morgan Keegan, one of the nation’s largest regional full-service brokerage and investment banking firms, is the securities brokerage subsidiary of Regions Financial Corporation (NYSE: RF). Headquartered in Memphis, Tenn., Morgan Keegan has over 4,300 employees providing services in more than 350 offices. More information about Morgan Keegan can be found out www.morgankeegan.com.

About Regions

Regions Financial Corporation is a member of the S&P Index and Forbes Magazine’s "platinum 400” list of America’s best big companies. With nearly $144 billion in assets, Regions is one of the nation’s largest full-service providers of consumer and commercial banking, trust, securities brokerage, mortgage and insurance products and services. Regions serves customers in 16 states across the South, Midwest and Texas, and through its subsidiary, Regions Bank, operates some 1,900 banking offices and more than 2,400 ATMs. Additional information about Regions and its full line of products and services can be found at www.regions.com.