FBR Names Two New Department Heads

ARLINGTON, Va., March 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- FBR Capital Markets Corporation, the principal subsidiary of Friedman, Billings, Ramsey Group, Inc. (NYSE: FBR) , today announced the appointment of David M. Khani, CFA as Director of Research to lead the firm's team of more than 100 equity and policy analysts, covering approximately 600 companies across eight key industry verticals. FBR also announced today that James A. Gargiulo has joined the firm as Senior Vice President, Chief Human Capital Officer.

"As we continue to deliver actionable proprietary research for our clients, it was imperative that we appoint a leader who can help us achieve our objectives," said Eric F. Billings, FBR Chairman & CEO. "David Khani is an outstanding analyst and a respected leader at FBR. We look forward to seeing him translate his success in the energy sector into continued growth and evolution across the entire platform."

"In Jim, we have found a unique combination of industry experience and human resource management expertise which directly aligns with our culture, organization and business strategy. His international experience will be an added benefit as we build out our investment banking platform overseas," continued Mr. Billings.

Mr. Khani has more than twenty years of investment experience, including thirteen as an energy and natural resources equity analyst. Known for his in- depth commodity and company research, Mr. Khani most recently served as Managing Director and Co-Group Head of FBR's Energy & Natural Resources Group covering the oil and gas exploration and production and coal mining industries. Mr. Khani's stock-picking ability earned him the title of one of the 'Best on the Street' in The Wall Street Journal's 2005 Analysts Survey.

Prior to joining FBR in 1998, Mr. Khani spent more than five years covering large-capitalization companies in the oil and gas sector at Bear Stearns and Prudential Securities and coal mining and local gas distribution industries at Lehman Brothers. He received his M.B.A. in Finance and Corporate Accounting from the William E. Simon Graduate School of Business at the University of Rochester. He is a member of the Association for Investment Management and Research (AIMR) and the Washington Society of Investment Analysts.

Mr. Gargiulo brings with him more than 25 years of experience in human resources. He joins FBR from Watson Wyatt Worldwide, a Washington, D.C.- headquartered global human resources consulting firm, where he was Vice President of Human Resources. Prior to Watson Wyatt Worldwide, Mr. Gargiulo held senior level roles at financial services firms including Banque Paribas, where he was Chief Human Resources Officer of North America, and Salomon Brothers, Inc., where he served as Director, Human Resources Asia/Pacific based in Tokyo before becoming corporate Vice President, Human Resources.

Mr. Gargiulo also held senior roles and served accounts for HR consulting firms including Aon Consulting and Compensation Design Group. He began his career as an accountant with Arthur Andersen & Co. He received his Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting from Baruch College. Through majority ownership of FBR Capital Markets Corporation (FBR Capital Markets), Friedman, Billings, Ramsey Group, Inc. (FBR) provides investment banking*, merger and acquisition advisory services(1), institutional brokerage*, asset management and private wealth services. FBR Capital Markets focuses capital and financial expertise on eight industry sectors: consumer, diversified industrials, energy & natural resources, financial institutions, healthcare, insurance, real estate, and technology, media & telecommunications. For the benefit of its shareholders, FBR Group also invests in mortgage-related assets and merchant banking opportunities. FBR is headquartered in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area with offices in Arlington, VA, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Irvine, London, New York, Phoenix and San Francisco. Friedman, Billings, Ramsey Group, Inc. is also the parent company of First NLC Financial Services, Inc., a non-conforming residential mortgage originator headquartered in Deerfield Beach, Florida. For more information, please visit http://www.fbr.com/.

(1) Friedman, Billings, Ramsey & Co., Inc.