The First Marblehead Corporation Receives Approval To Acquire Union Federal Savings Bank.

BOSTON -- The First Marblehead Corporation (NYSE: FMD) announced that it received approval today from the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) to acquire Union Federal Savings Bank (UFSB) of North Providence, Rhode Island.

"This acquisition is consistent with First Marblehead's strategy of supporting our clients with the broadest set of financial products and services available," said Jack Kopnisky, First Marblehead's president and chief executive officer. "Union Federal Savings Bank provides a platform on which we will be able to develop innovative products for our clients."

Management and staff will stay in place at UFSB and the bank will continue to serve the needs of the community in North Providence, R.I.

The transaction is expected to close on or about November 30, 2006.

About The First Marblehead Corporation. First Marblehead, a leader in creating solutions for education finance, provides outsourcing services for private, non-governmental, education lending in the United States. The Company helps meet the growing demand for private education loans by providing national and regional financial institutions and educational institutions, as well as businesses and other enterprises, with an integrated suite of design, implementation and securitization services for student loan programs tailored to meet the needs of their respective customers, students, employees and members.

About Union Federal Savings Bank. Union Federal Savings Bank is a $40 million asset community bank with a single branch located in North Providence, Rhode Island. The Bank provides deposit and loan services to retail customers throughout the state.

For more information, visit http://www.firstmarblehead.com

Statements in this press release regarding the acquisition by First Marblehead of Union Federal Savings Bank, including statements related to the closing of the acquisition and its expected benefits, and any other statements that are not purely historical, constitute forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are based on our plans, estimates and expectations as of November 22, 2006. The inclusion of this forward-looking information should not be regarded as a representation by us or any other person that the future plans, estimates or expectations contemplated by us will be achieved. You are cautioned that matters subject to forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, including economic, regulatory and competitive factors that may cause First Marblehead's performance or achievement, or the timing of events, to be materially different than those expressed or implied by forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include: First Marblehead's ability to successfully integrate and manage the operations and employees of Union Federal Savings Bank, the inability to realize anticipated synergies and benefits of the acquisition and the other factors set forth under the caption "Factors That May Affect Future Results" in First Marblehead's quarterly report on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on November 8, 2006. We disclaim any obligation to update any forward-looking statements as a result of developments occurring after the date of this press release.