Newsome and Shields Join Sandler O’Neill’s Research Group

Will Re-establish Firm’s Coverage of Insurance Sector

New York – December 6, 2007 - Sandler O’Neill + Partners, L.P., a full-service investment banking firm specializing in financial services companies, announced today that J. Paul Newsome and Edward Shields have joined Sandler O’Neill’s Research Department. Mr. Newsome joins as a Managing Director and Mr. Shields joins as Vice President. Both will be based in Sandler O’Neill’s Chicago office and will cover a wide variety of companies in the insurance industry. Collectively, the two professionals have more than 16 years of experience as research analysts following the insurance sector.

Most recently, Mr. Newsome served as Vice President and Senior Equity Analyst at A. G. Edwards. In that role, Mr. Newsome was responsible for Property-Casualty and Managed Care coverage. Prior to joining A.G. Edwards, he was a senior insurance analyst at Lehman Brothers and CIBC Oppenheimer.
Before becoming an equity analyst, Mr. Newsome worked at several insurance companies such as American Life and Casualty, AmerUs and Equitable of Iowa in a variety of positions.

Mr. Edward Shields joins Sandler O’Neill also from A.G. Edwards, where he worked as an associate analyst covering the property-casualty insurance sector, multi-line insurers, reinsurers, insurance brokers and managed care organizations.

“I am pleased to welcome both Paul and Ed to our research team,” said Mark Fitzgibbon, Principal and Head of Sandler O’Neill’s Research Department. “We are excited to be re-instituting coverage of the insurance sector, and these two industry veterans will play key roles in this effort.”

Mr. Newsome holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Mathematics from St. Olaf College and a Master of Science in Economics from Iowa State University.

Mr. Shields holds a master’s degree in English literature from Saint Louis University and a bachelor’s degree in English and Biology from Marquette University.

About Sandler O’Neill + Partners, L.P.

Founded in 1988, Sandler O’Neill + Partners is a full-service investment banking firm dedicated to providing comprehensive, innovative advisory and transaction execution services to the financial industry. The firm specializes in strategic business planning, mergers and acquisitions, capital markets, mutual-to-stock conversions, investment portfolio and interest rate risk management, fixed income securities transactions and mortgage finance restructurings. Sandler O’Neill also is a market maker in hundreds of financial stocks and publishes equity and fixed income research focused on selected banks, thrifts and insurance companies, credit card companies, investment banks, asset managers, specialty finance companies, e-finance companies and transaction execution companies. Additional information about Sandler O’Neill can be found on the firm’s website at www.sandleroneill.com.