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First Western Capital Management Named a Manager of the Decade by PSN

Prestigious Award Recognizes Performance Leaders in the Investment Field

First Western Capital Management (www.fwcapmgmt.com), the institutional investment management subsidiary of First Western Financial, Inc., is pleased to announce the firm has received Top Guns Manager of the Decade recognition by PSN in the Core Fixed Income category.

"Our investing philosophy and process are keys to providing long-term success for our clients," said Barry Julien, a Managing Director of First Western Capital Management and portfolio manager of the Core Fixed Income strategy. "We're obviously quite proud of our placement among the industry's top investment managers, and we'll continue to work hard to maintain this distinction."

PSN selects the Managers of the Decade in 52 style categories. Winners of the recognition are determined by the best combination of excess return relative to risk in each style category. According to PSN, First Western Core Fixed Income's returns for the decade ending December 2009 were greater than its style benchmark, the Barclays Capital Aggregate Bond Index, and with lower standard deviation.

"Providing our clients excellent returns with less risk is First Western's ultimate goal," said Ken Malamed, Vice Chairman of First Western Capital Management. "This designation from PSN is a solid acknowledgment we're achieving success in that effort."

PSN is one of the leading investment manager search and evaluation databases offered industry wide. A division of Informa Investment Solutions, PSN operates the largest separate account investment professional database with data covering over 2,200 investment managers and more than 12,000 investment products. PSN tracks more than 1,600 money management firms and over 7,000 investment products. Since 1984, firms included in PSN have been some of the major players of the investment management business. For more information regarding the Top Guns List, visit www.informais.com.

About First Western Capital Management
First Western Capital Management (FWCM) is the institutional investment management subsidiary of First Western Financial, Inc., a financial services holding company recently ranked by Inc. magazine as one of the fastest growing companies in the U.S. Los Angeles-based FWCM, with well-regarded expertise in fixed income, total return, and opportunistic strategies, focuses on delivering superior investment results for institutional, sub-advisory, and high net worth clients. The FWCM investment team manages more than $1.2 billion for clients, and together with affiliated First Western entities, is responsible for over $3.0 billion in assets. For more information, please visit http://FWCapMgmt.com or call 310.229.2984.

Editor's note:
This press release is distributed for informational purposes only and to notify readers of a PSN ranking. The returns are compared to the Barclays Capital Aggregate Bond. Past Performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss and individual results may differ. PSN and Informa Investment Solutions have no affiliation with First Western Capital Management, but rather evaluate investment managers' performance on an objective basis.