Post 200 The guide to the region's top businesses

Public companies and financial services

FBR & Co.

Now in its third brand incarnation, this investment bank, which changed its name from FBR Capital Markets in 2011, has worked its way from under the debilitating losses incurred by its predecessor, Friedman, Billings, Ramsey Group. Yet it continues to be battered by sluggish activity in the investment banking sector. As a result, the company let go 125 employees in November in an effort to stay profitable. Since 2008, it has reduced its workforce from 780 to 426 employees.

Trivia

Of the three founders that included Emanuel J. Friedman and W. Russell Ramsey, only Eric F. Billings remains on the board of directors.