Hank's Small Banks

[10 bagger]

MNRK..$6.55

Monarch Hires Four Experienced Bankers and Appoints Norfolk President:

Don Price, Craig Baker, Bob White and Chas Wright added to Monarch Bank team:

CHESAPEAKE, Va., Aug. 26 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Monarch Financial Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:MNRK), the bank holding company for Monarch Bank, reported the addition of four experienced bankers to the Monarch Bank team.

"We are very excited to have these four local bankers join the Monarch team," stated Neal Crawford, president of Monarch Bank. "They have strong reputations in the local business community and have always served their clients with the same proactive valued-added approach as practiced by our bankers here at Monarch. We consider them a natural fit with our culture of building lasting relationships thru exceptional service."

Donald F. Price will assume the title of Norfolk President and will be responsible for all banking activities related to Monarch Bank in Norfolk. Price is a graduate of Old Dominion University and has over twenty five years leadership experience in the banking industry in Norfolk and is active in many prominent community organizations including the Barry Robinson Center, St. Mary's Home for Disabled Children, and the Tidewater Business Financing Corporation.

R. Craig Baker will assume the title of senior vice president and will be a business banker located in Chesapeake. Baker, a graduate of Old Dominion University, also has over twenty five years of leadership experience in Norfolk and Chesapeake and is also very active in many prominent community organizations including the Sertoma Club, Child and Family Services, and the United Way of South Hampton Roads.

Robert "Bob" L. White will assume the title of senior vice president and will be a business banker located in Norfolk. White, a graduate of the Virginia Military Institute has over twenty years of banking leadership in Norfolk and was a Captain in the United States Air Force and is also very active in many prominent community organizations including the Kiwanis Club, the Virginia Zoological Society, International Azalea Festival, and the United Way of South Hampton Roads. Bob is also a graduate of Lead Hampton Roads.

Charles "Chas" M. Wright will assume the title of senior vice president and will be a business banker located in Virginia Beach and director for Monarch Capital in Norfolk. Wright earned his undergraduate degree from University of Virginia and MBA from Old Dominion University. He has seven years of banking and investment banking experience. Wright served on the board of directors for Old Dominion Alumni Association, Hampton Roads Technology Council and Sertoma Club of Norfolk. He is a member of Hampton Roads Association of Commercial Real Estate, Urban Land Institute, Downtown 100 and Norfolk Sports Club.

About Monarch Bank

Monarch Financial Holdings, Inc. is the one-bank holding company for Monarch Bank. Monarch Bank is a community bank with two offices in Chesapeake, four offices in Virginia Beach, and two offices in Norfolk, Virginia. OBX Bank, a division of Monarch Bank, operates one office in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Services are also provided through over fifty ATMs located in the South Hampton Roads area and the Outer Banks of North Carolina, and "Monarch Online" consumer and business internet banking (monarchbank.com and OBXBank.com). Monarch Mortgage and our affiliated mortgage companies have twelve offices with locations in Chesapeake, Norfolk, Virginia Beach (2), Fredericksburg, Suffolk, and Richmond, Virginia as well as Rockville (2), Waldorf, Crofton and Greenbelt, Maryland and Charlotte, North Carolina. Our subsidiaries/divisions include Monarch Bank, OBX Bank, Monarch Mortgage (secondary mortgage origination), Coastal Home Mortgage, LLC (secondary mortgage origination), Home Mortgage Solutions, LLC (secondary mortgage origination), Virginia Asset Group, LLC (investment and insurance solutions), Real Estate Security Agency, LLC (title agency) and Monarch Capital, LLC (commercial mortgage brokerage). The shares of Monarch Financial Holdings, Inc. are publicly traded on the NASDAQ Capital Market under the symbol "MNRK"

CONTACT: Nancy Porter, Senior VP - Marketing & Sales, Monarch Bank,

[phone]

Web Site: http://www.monarchbank.com/