Stanford Group Company Opens New Private Client Services Office in Atlanta, Offering Personalized Financial Planning and Wealth Management Services to High Net Worth Investors.

ATLANTA -- Appoints Managing Director Julian "Brad" Bradham to Helm Office; Company Plans to Expand to 18 Advisors; SGC Leases Office Space in Buckhead's Monarch Tower, to be Occupied Later In 2005

Stanford Group Company today announced it has opened a new private client services office in Atlanta, Ga., providing comprehensive, highly personalized financial planning and wealth management services to individual high net worth investors. The move comes as part of Stanford Group's ambitious growth plan aimed at positioning the company as the leading private wealth management firm in the southeastern United States -- one of the nation's fastest-growing regions for private client services.

Stanford Group Company also announced it has brought on board Managing Director Julian "Brad" Bradham, who joins the firm from Smith Barney and has deep knowledge of the local community. Stanford Group also plans to hire up to 18 financial advisors. The Company has leased office space in Buckhead's prestigious Monarch Tower, which it expects to occupy later in the year. The firm's temporary office space is located in Buckhead's Pinnacle Building.

Earlier in the spring, Stanford Group Company revealed plans to expand to a series of key Southeast markets in the next 12 to 24 months. The expansion began last year when Stanford Group opened offices in Memphis and Longboat Key, Florida, and has continued with more recent office openings in Dallas and Boca Raton.

Eddie Rollins, executive director of private client services for Stanford Group Company, said, "Establishing an office in Atlanta is another important step in Stanford Group Company's drive to build a full-service wealth management, financial planning and financial services company with a particular focus on the Southeast."

"With the increasing consolidation of the financial services industry, smaller regional boutiques have been swallowed up by larger, national banks. We see a real opportunity to fill that market opening by becoming the Southeast's premier privately-held high net worth client boutique, devoting our efforts to helping our clients meet their financial goals and distinguished by unparalleled, highly individualized client service," Rollins continued.

SGC Brings Bradham on Board - Managing Director with Deep Experience

Stanford Group announced the appointment of Julian "Brad" Bradham, managing director, to head the newly established private client services office in Atlanta. Bradham, a seasoned industry professional with more than 20 years of experience and strong ties in the local community, joins Stanford Group from Smith Barney in Atlanta, where he was a senior vice president and branch manager. He previously served as a branch manger for Morgan Stanley. Prior to his 12-year career as a branch manager, Bradham worked as a financial consultant for 10 years.

Bradham stated, "Stanford Group Company fosters a truly entrepreneurial environment. I am looking forward to helping put together and working with a team of top-notch advisors to help SGC achieve its goal of becoming the leading private client boutique, not only in Atlanta, but across the Southeast."

Rollins said, "Our goal wherever we do business is to build long-term value for our clients and our company by building lasting relationships with investors and communities. That's why our Atlanta business will be handled by experienced financial professionals like Brad Bradham and others we recruit who know this community well. We're looking forward to establishing a long and fruitful relationship with the people of Atlanta."

About Stanford Group Company

Stanford Group Company (member NASD/SIPC) is a full-service wealth management, financial planning and financial services company offering an enhanced level of personal service for private individuals, companies, governments and institutional clients. The firm's rapidly growing Institutional Division, founded in response to clients' desire for quality research, offers highly differentiated, research-driven insights, as well as investment banking, merchant banking (through its affiliate Stanford Venture Capital Holdings, Inc.), and institutional sales and trading.

Stanford Group Company is a member of Houston-based Stanford Financial Group, a global network of affiliated financial companies headed by Chairman and CEO R. Allen Stanford. Although independent, the affiliated companies together provide coordinated wealth management through international private banking, asset management, investment advisory services, trust administration, commercial banking, real estate development and insurance for clients worldwide.