Press Release

September 20, 2011

RAYMOND JAMES ANNOUNCES ADDITION OF THREE SENIOR EXECUTIVES
IN TECH RESEARCH, BANKING AND CAPITAL MARKETS

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Raymond James today announced the hiring of Internet equity research analyst Aaron Kessler, Internet investment banker Jason Harkness and equity capital markets specialist Todd Speece. All three are based in the firm’s San Francisco office.

“We are delighted to add Aaron, Jason and Todd to our technology team,” said Jeff Trocin, executive vice president, head of equity capital markets and investment banking. “Their extensive experience and relationships collectively will be extremely important to our firm as we continue to expand our overall technology franchise. These hirings perfectly complement the other senior banking additions we made earlier this year and are further examples of our commitment to providing thoughtful, consistent research, advisory and capital raising execution to our clients in the technology industry.”

Kessler joins Raymond James from ThinkEquity where he was a senior research analyst and led coverage for public Internet companies. With 11 years of equity research experience, Kessler also has worked for Kaufman Bros., Piper Jaffray & Co. and J.P. Morgan Chase. A graduate of UCLA with a Bachelor of Arts in Business Economics, Kessler is a Chartered Financial Analyst and has been recognized by StarMine as a top earnings estimator three times and once as a top stock picker.

Harkness joins the firm from Pinnacle Ventures, a private venture capital fund, where he focused primarily on Internet, digital media, software and mobile investments. Prior to Pinnacle, Harkness was with Thomas Weisel Partners’ technology investment banking team where he focused on Internet, digital media, software and communications transactions. He began his career in Ernst & Young’s audit and advisory group. Harkness graduated summa cum laude from the University of Arizona with degrees in finance and accounting and received his Master of Business Administration from Stanford’s Graduate School of Business.

Speece joins the firm from Piper Jaffray & Co. where he was a senior member of the private and public capital markets team for technology and clean technology. At Raymond James he will lead the firm’s capital raising efforts for technology and clean technology companies. Speece also previously worked at Norwest Equity Partners and Thomas Weisel Partners. Speece received a degree in finance from the University of Wisconsin and an MBA from Tulane University’s Freeman School of Business. While at Tulane he was also the Associate Director of Research at the school’s Burkenroad Reports Equity Research Program.

About Raymond James Financial, Inc.

Raymond James Financial (NYSE-RJF) is a Florida-based diversified holding company providing financial services to individuals, corporations and municipalities through its subsidiary companies. Its three principal wholly owned broker/dealers, Raymond James & Associates, Raymond James Financial Services and Raymond James Ltd. have more than 5,400 financial advisors serving 2 million accounts in 2,400 locations throughout the United States, Canada and overseas. In addition, total client assets are approximately $271 billion, of which approximately $36 billion are managed by the firm’s asset management subsidiaries.

To the extent that Raymond James makes or publishes forward-looking statements (regarding management expectations, strategic objectives, business prospects, anticipated expense savings, financial results, anticipated results of litigation and regulatory proceedings, and other similar matters), a variety of factors, many of which are beyond Raymond James’ control, could cause actual results and experiences to differ materially from the expectations and objectives expressed in these statements. These factors are described in Raymond James’ 2010 annual report on Form 10-K and the quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarters ended December 31, 2010, March 31, 2011 and June 30, 2011, which are available on RAYMONDJAMES.COM and SEC.GOV.

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