Press Release

October 24, 2008

RAYMOND JAMES FINANCIAL ISSUES
STATEMENT ON TURKISH OPERATIONS

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – As it has disclosed consistently in its SEC 10-Q reports and communications to shareholders, Raymond James Financial (RJF-NYSE) is awaiting a decision on a court case involving its affiliated joint venture in Turkey, Raymond James Securities Turkey (RJST). RJST had provisioned for the full amount of penalties relating to that case (resulting in a technical capital inadequacy), but RJF provided an additional Letter of Guarantee (LOG) to the Capital Markets Board of Turkey while awaiting the outcome of the court case. The Capital Markets Board prior to now had accepted the LOG as a sufficient alternative pending the outcome or an additional capital contribution, but this week informed RJST that the LOG was no longer acceptable. RJST believes that the calculation of the amount involved in the case was in error, an opinion backed by several accounting firms, and would therefore expect a reversal of much of the reserve in the event of a positive court decision. RJST is working to address the situation and expects a resolution soon.

From an RJF corporate perspective, the amount involved in RJST is immaterial to overall firm results, and RJF has already recorded a provision for loss in its consolidated financial statements for its net equity interest in this joint venture.

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 wholly owned broker/dealers (Raymond James & Associates, Raymond James Financial Services and Raymond James Ltd.) and Raymond James Investment Services Limited, a majority-owned independent contractor subsidiary in the United Kingdom, have a total of more than 5,000 financial advisors serving approximately 1.8 million accounts in more than 2,200 locations throughout the United States, Canada and overseas. In addition, total client assets are approximately $187 billion, of which $33 billion are managed by the firm’s asset management subsidiaries.

To the extent that Raymond James makes or publishes forward-looking statements (regarding economic conditions, management expectations, strategic objectives, business prospects, anticipated expense savings, loan reserves/losses, financial results, anticipated results of litigation and regulatory proceedings, federal government assistance programs for financial institutions 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’ 2007 annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly report for the quarter ended June 30, 2008 on Form 10-Q, which are available on raymondjames.com and sec.gov.

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For more information, contact Anthea Penrose at 727-567-2824.
Please visit the Raymond James Press Center at raymondjames.com/media.