Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Strengthens Research Department by Hiring Two All-Star Analysts; Diane Merdian from Morgan Stanley and Jay Weintraub from Merrill Lynch Join KBW

Business Wire, Jan 7, 2003

Business Editors

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 7, 2003

Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, Inc. (KBW), a New York-based investment banking and brokerage firm specializing in the financial services sector, today announced the hiring of Wall Street veterans Diane Merdian as Senior Vice President and Jay Weintraub as Managing Director and Senior Vice President.

Merdian will launch a strategic research effort for KBW, focusing on how important industry issues affect bank stock valuations. Consistently named to Institutional Investor's All-Star Analyst Team, Merdian brings to KBW nearly two decades of investment and analytical experience in the financial services industry. Most recently, Merdian was a Managing Director at Morgan Stanley, responsible for bank equity research.

Previously, she followed the banking industry at Montgomery Securities, where she also headed the firm's Financial Services Group. Earlier in her career, Merdian worked at Salomon Brothers, where her research focused on U.S. mortgage related companies and Smith Barney, where she specialized in European banks. Merdian was employed as a buy side bank and financial services analyst from 1988 to 1994. Merdian graduated from the University of Kansas in 1981 and attended the University of Chicago's Graduate School of Business as a Leon C. Marshall Scholar.

Joining KBW to head fixed-income research is Jay Weintraub, who has over 30 years of varied experience analyzing banks from several perspectives. Weintraub spent the last eleven years at Merrill Lynch, most recently serving as Managing Director and Senior Fixed-Income Analyst. In this role, he was responsible for covering U.S. commercial banks, credit card banks, thrifts and other financial institutions. From 1983 to 1991, Weintraub worked at Salomon Brothers, where he initiated and headed up the financial institutions research group within the Corporate Bond Research department, covering U.S. and Yankee Banks.

He previously served as a National Bank Examiner for the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency from 1970 to 1981 and headed the domestic bank ratings group at Standard & Poor's from 1981 to 1983. Weintraub has been named to Institutional Investor's Fixed-Income All-Star Analyst Team every year since its inception in 1990. Weintraub earned his B.A. in Economics at State University of New York at Stony Brook in 1970.

"Both Diane Merdian and Jay Weintraub bring a wealth of experience in financial services to our research team," said John Duffy, Chairman & CEO. "KBW continues to attract the best and brightest financial services analysts on Wall Street," he added. "As is evident by these new hires, KBW remains committed to providing our clients with a best in class team."

About Keefe, Bruyette and Woods

Keefe, Bruyette, & Woods, Inc. (KBW) is an institutionally oriented securities broker/dealer and full service investment bank that specializes in the financial services sector. Founded in 1962 and 100% employee-owned, the firm has long been recognized as a banking industry authority and, in recent years, has expanded its focus to include insurance companies, broker/dealers, mortgage banks, asset management companies, and specialty finance firms. For more information, please visit www.kbw.com.