The Law Firm of Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas Continues to File Cases Against Morgan Keegan Bond Fund Investments in Light of Recent Arbitration Awards -- RSF, RMA, RHY, RMH, RHICX, MKHIX, RHIIX, RIBCX, MKIBX, RIBIX

MEMPHIS, Tenn., April 2, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Recently, three separate arbitration panels administered by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (http://www.finra.org), formerly the NASD, ruled in favor of investors who lost money in Regions Morgan Keegan mutual funds. Regions Morgan Keegan is a division of Regions Financial Corp (NYSE:RF - News).

In each of the claims, Morgan Keegan was accused of misrepresentations and omissions regarding risks associated with its proprietary bond funds. It was alleged that Morgan Keegan and its management marketed and sold certain funds as relatively conservative investments, while in fact they were heavily exposed to subprime mortgage securities, collateral debt obligations (CDOs) and other risky debt instruments. This was evidenced by the fact that several of the Morgan Keegan funds saw their values plummet as much as 90% because of the undisclosed high concentration of risky and speculative debt.

The funds involved in the allegations are:

 --------------------------------------------
 Symbol   Bond Fund
 --------------------------------------------
 RSF      RMK Strategic Income Fund
 --------------------------------------------
 RMA      RMK Advantage Income Fund
 --------------------------------------------
 RHY      RMK Multi-Sector High Income Fund
 --------------------------------------------
 RMH      RMK High Income Fund
 --------------------------------------------
 RHICX
 MKHIX    RMK Select High Income Fund
 RHIIX
 --------------------------------------------	
 RIBCX
 MKIBX    RMK Select Intermediate Bond Fund
 RIBIX	
 --------------------------------------------

The awards in the three cases decided by separate arbitration panels varied, two returned six-figure awards to investors for their losses in Morgan Keegan funds. One of the arbitration panels awarded more than the actual damages the investors claimed. The third award was smaller, but important as establishing liability on the part of Morgan Keegan.

It is estimated that FINRA arbitration panels, in total, have awarded over $600,000 to clients of Morgan Keegan that were invested in the questionable funds. The Memphis-based brokerage firm also faces several class-action lawsuits from investors who allege they were never made aware about the risks of these Morgan Keegan investments.

The attorneys at Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas continue to work with investors nationwide who have lost money with Morgan Keegan.

Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas LLP has a team of attorneys, consultants and others with more than 100 years of combined experience in the securities industry and in securities law. Since 1990, we have represented thousands of investors nationwide to recover losses. We have represented clients in Federal and state courts and in arbitration through the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), the New York Stock Exchange Inc. (NYSE), the American Arbitration Association (AAA) and in private arbitration actions. Collectively, we have represented clients in more than 1,000 matters in negotiation, mediation, arbitration and litigation.

          Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas
          Samuel Edwards
          800-259-9010
          sedwards@sseklaw.com