Concept Capital Expands to Fixed Income Sales and Trading, Appoints Former Credit Suisse Executive as Director of Fixed Income.

NEW YORK -- Concept Capital, a leading institutional broker and total solutions provider for global investment managers, today announced the firm has expanded into Fixed Income Sales and Trading and has appointed former Credit Suisse Executive, Allen Oppici as Director of Fixed Income Sales and Trading.

In his new role, Mr. Oppici will oversee the launch and growth of Concept Capital's Fixed Income business. Mr. Oppici brings more than 20 years of experience in the securities industry to Concept Capital, including 13 years at DLJ and Credit Suisse, where he served as Director of Fixed Income Trading.

Mr. Oppici plans to aggressively grow Concept Capital's Fixed Income business, which includes the hiring of several sales members for the firm's trading desk in the first quarter of 2009. Additional hires are anticipated this year as the firm's Fixed Income business expands.

Concept Capital is launching its Fixed Income desk while many larger firms have reduced their operations across the board. In addition, institutional concern over counterparty risk associated with larger firms has created significant demand for independent brokerage services.

"In the last year, we've seen buyside firms shift a significant portion of their business to independent brokers as concerns over counterparty risk have increased and banks continue to reduce services," said Robert E. Moore, Managing Director of Capital Markets at Concept Capital. "This has been a tremendous opportunity for Concept to grow by offering a broader range of services to our clients. There is growing buyside demand for Fixed Income Sales and Trading services, and we are extremely fortunate to have someone as experienced as Allen join Concept to launch this business."

About Concept Capital: (www.conceptcapital.com)

Founded in 1995, Concept Capital is a leading institutional broker and total solutions provider for global investment managers. Concept provides a full suite of prime brokerage, fund administration, and real-time risk management services. Concept also provides an industry leading institutional trading platform for hedge funds, registered investment advisors and broker dealer customers. Concept Capital specializes in providing clients with experienced, in-depth market knowledge combined with advanced proprietary systems, enabling clients to quickly launch their businesses in the most cost effective manner possible. Concept Capital is headquartered in New York City and has offices in Greenwich, Conn., Garden City, NY, Los Angeles, Houston, Chicago and Boca Raton, FL. Concept Capital is a division of SMH Capital, Inc., member FINRA, SIPC.

About SMH Capital, Inc.: (www.smhgroup.com)

Sanders Morris Harris Group is a financial services holding company headquartered in Houston that manages approximately $10.5 billion in client assets. The subsidiaries and affiliates of Sanders Morris Harris Group deliver superior wealth advisory, asset management, and capital markets services to individual and institutional investors and middle-market companies. Its operating entities are Dickenson Group, Edelman Financial Center, Salient Partners, Salient Trust Co. LTA, SMH Capital, SMH Capital Advisors, Select Sports Group, and The Rikoon Group. Sanders Morris Harris Group has over 610 employees in 21 states.