Asset Recovery Specialist Equisearch Returns Millions in Lost Cash and Equity Assets to Rightful Owners in 2008.

ELMSFORD, N.Y. -- Equisearch, a leading provider of services for the search and recovery of lost financial assets, today announced that in 2008 the company successfully returned tens of millions in unclaimed cash and millions of shares of stock to their rightful owners. Additionally, this past year saw Equisearch help their clients prevent the escheating in excess of 6,000 dormant accounts belonging to missing or deceased individuals.

"This past year, one of the most difficult economic years on record, our asset recovery services team put money back in pockets of more than six thousand people, money that would have otherwise gone to the states," said John C. Buonomo, president of Equisearch. "If there was ever a year where extra money came in handy, it was 2008. We are pleased to have been able to put our deep search techniques to use to ultimately return needed cash to the right pockets."

Equisearch is retained by banks, transfer agents and a wide range of financial institutions to locate owners of "lost" accounts and manage the process of restoring proper ownership of the unclaimed funds they hold. These accounts can include forgotten 401(k) or pension funds left behind when someone changes jobs or simply a regular savings account held by someone who has since deceased.

Using a proprietary process and leveraging access to multiple databases, Equisearch finds and approaches either the owner or the next of kin and works to return the funds before the institution is required to endure the arduous process of escheating, or forfeiting, these funds to the state where they become incredibly difficult to retrieve. The company's engagement process with lost account holders is unique in that Equisearch transparently discloses details of the asset in question including its value. Equisearch does not discriminate based on the size of an asset in question - the company has the capability and resources to restore ownership of any asset no matter the size.

"Our clients are required by law to manage their unclaimed asset database and attempt to locate lost account holders, creating a resource strain which we alleviate," Buonomo continued. "It's also the right thing to do. By restoring rightful ownership of more than six thousand unclaimed accounts in 2008, we assured our clients remained in compliance with unclaimed property laws and eliminated countless hours of administrative work associated with the escheatment process."

With state governments increasing their focus on unclaimed property as a potential source of revenue in 2009, Equisearch is expanding its reach to provide similar asset recovery services to companies outside the traditional financial sector. The company expects that, as a result, the number of dollars salvaged and accounts saved from escheatment will grow even further in 2009.

About Equisearch:

Founded in 1988, Equisearch is a leading provider of lost account holder search and recovery services in the unclaimed property industry. The company helps financial institutions identify unclaimed financial assets and reunite them with its rightful owner or heir using a variety of unique and proprietary search methods. Since 2004, Equisearch has recovered more than 500,000 financial accounts worth in excess of $5 billion. Equisearch is based in Westchester County, NY. Equisearch is a portfolio company of Palladian Capital Partners LLC, www.palladiancap.com. For more information, please visit www.Equisearchinc.com.