David Merkel to Join Finacorp Securities as Its Chief Economist and Director of Research

IRVINE, Calif., Feb. 8 /PRNewswire/ — In an ongoing campaign to provide targeted, value add services to its institutional client base,Finacorp Securities has hired David Merkel, formerly a Portfolio Manager for Dwight Asset Management, and an Equity Analyst for Hovde Capital Advisers. David is both a Chartered Financial Analyst, and a Fellow in theSociety of Actuaries.

Finacorp Securities today announced that David Merkel has joined as its Chief Economist and Director of Research. David has been a long time leading contributor to RealMoney.com, after being invited by Jim Cramer to write there. In addition to this he has acted as a Portfolio Manager to equity, corporate bond and structured product funds. He is also author and
owner of the popular finance weblog Alephblog.com. David’s focus has been equity and bond portfolio management, macroeconomics, derivatives, quantitative strategies, insurance issues and corporate governance. As Chief Economist and Director of Research at Finacorp Securities, David’s chief responsibility will be to develop economic analysis with equity and
fixed income strategies and provide advice to the firm’s sales & trading staff and its client base.

“With the current credit crisis and ensuing market volatility we think it is imperative to offer additional support and insight to our client base. David is a proven professional that has analyzed, and created opportunities in many markets and will help do the same for our client base in this market and those in the future. David’s ability to analyze many of the complex and impaired assets in today’s marketplace including CDOs, SIVs, and Insurance Guarantors will create an immediate value add to our institutional clients. This is very much in line with our philosophy of bringing together the finest personnel in a collaborative environment,” said Ed Prado, President and CEO of Finacorp Securities.

This hiring comes after tremendous expansion by the company of personnel and infrastructure as it established a presence in: Seattle, Portland and Chicago.

About Finacorp Securities

Finacorp Securities is a full service broker/dealer focusing on servicing its institutional clients within the U.S. and select
international markets. The firm operates as a certified Minority-OwnedHispanic Broker/Dealer headquartered in California. Through a combination of its own proprietary systems and third-party partnerships, it provides seamless execution, settlement and custody to institutional fixed income and equity market participants. Finacorp has been built on a tradition of highly personalized brokerage services delivered by professionals harnessing the power of technology and strategic partnership to deliver value-driven securities execution, detailed portfolio analytics, and seamless settlement. Finacorp’s high-touch, high-tech business model represents a comprehensive set of fixed income and equity solutions for
today’s value driven, risk adverse investment professional.

SOURCE Finacorp Securities