The firm also operated a mortgage finance company and registered investment adviser based in Memphis.

Though today it serves companies of all sizes, the firm was founded with an emphasis on community and mid-size banks, as its founders saw that smaller financial institutions were underserved by the existing advisement system.

[2] Six months after the foundation of the firm, Christopher Quackenbush left Merrill Lynch to build Sandler's investment banking group.

The following year, the firm began publishing equity research, focusing on community banks and other financial institutions.

It is one of the last privately held investment banks on Wall Street, after other firms went public, including Goldman Sachs in the early 2000s.

[3] On September 11, 2001, the firm, which was headquartered on the 104th floor of the South Tower of the World Trade Center, lost 68 of its 171 employees, 40 percent of its overall workforce.

[7] After the attacks, the firm operated temporarily out of the Solow Building, in space provided by Bank of America.