FirstCity Financial Supplements Proxy Statement in Connection With Annual Stockholders...

FirstCity Financial Supplements Proxy Statement in Connection With Annual
Stockholders Meeting by Amending 2010 Stock Option and Award Plan

WACO, Texas, Nov. 5, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- FirstCity Financial Corporation
(Nasdaq:FCFC) (the "Company") today announced that it has supplemented its proxy
statement in connection with its 2009 Annual Meeting of Stockholders (the
"Annual Meeting") to amend its 2010 Stock Option and Award Plan (the "Plan") for
which the Company is requesting stockholder approval. The Annual Meeting will be
held on November 13, 2009, at 9:00 a.m. local time at the Company's principal
executive offices located at 6400 Imperial Drive, Waco, Texas 76712.

The Plan provides for unvested awards granted under the Plan to accelerate
immediately upon the occurrence of a "Change in Control." Prior to its
amendment, the Plan provided that, among other events, a Change in Control
occurs upon approval by the Company's stockholders of a major corporate
transaction, including a reorganization, merger, liquidation of the Company,
sale of all or substantially all of the Company's assets or similar corporate
transaction (a "Corporate Transaction"). The Company amended the Plan to provide
that a Change in Control occurs upon the consummation of a Corporate
Transaction, as opposed to upon stockholder approval.

Separately, the Company supplemented its proxy statement in connection with the
Annual Meeting to clarify the effect of broker non-votes on the vote to approve
the Plan outlined in Proposal 2 in the proxy statement. A broker non-vote occurs
when a nominee holding shares of common stock for a beneficial owner does not
vote on a particular proposal because the nominee does not have discretionary
voting power with respect to that item and has not received instructions from
the beneficial owner. The supplement to the proxy statement is intended to
clarify that, under Delaware law, broker non-votes are not counted in shares
entitled to vote on the Plan and, consequently, will have no effect on the vote
count regarding approval of the Plan.

Although the Annual Meeting is only a few days away, any stockholders that have
not voted "FOR" the Plan and "FOR" the Company's other proposals still have time
to vote, or to revoke a previously-executed proxy, by following the procedures
described below.

The Company urges all of its stockholders to vote "FOR" all of its proposals.

HOW TO VOTE BEFORE THE MEETING ON NOVEMBER 13, 2009:

If your shares are registered in your own name, please sign, date and mail the
proxy card in the self-addressed, postage-paid envelope previously provided. If
your shares are held in the name of a brokerage firm, bank, nominee or other
institution, you must provide instructions to that entity so that your votes
will be cast. Please sign, date and mail the vote instruction form previously
provided by your bank, broker or other nominee and return it using the
self-addressed, postage-paid envelope provided.

You may also cast your vote by telephone. Call toll-free 1-800-PROXIES
(1-800-776-9437) in the United States or 1-718-921-8500 from foreign countries
and follow the instructions. Have your proxy card available when you call, and
use the Company Number and Account Number shown on your proxy card. You may
enter your voting instructions by telephone up until 11:59 PM Eastern Time the
day before the cut-off or meeting date.

If your shares are registered in your own name, you may also vote your shares in
person by attending the Annual Meeting.

If you have any questions or need assistance in voting your shares, please
contact Suzy Taylor by telephone (866-652-1810) or email at
suzy.taylor@fcfc.com.

FirstCity Financial Corporation is a diversified financial services company with
operations dedicated primarily to portfolio asset acquisition and resolution
with offices in the U.S. and with affiliate organizations in Europe and Latin
America. FirstCity common stock is listed on the NASDAQ Global Select Market
(Nasdaq:FCFC).

The FirstCity Financial Corporation logo is available at
http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=4413

Forward-Looking Statements

FirstCity may from time to time make written or oral forward-looking statements,
including statements contained in this press release, FirstCity's filings with
the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), in its reports to stockholders
and in other FirstCity communications. These statements relate to FirstCity's or
management's intentions, hopes, beliefs, expectations, representations,
projections, plans or predictions of the future and may be deemed to be
forward-looking statements under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995, Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of
the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The forward-looking statements in this
press release are based upon management's beliefs, assumptions and expectations
of the Company's future operations and economic performance, taking into account
currently available information. These statements are not statements of
historical fact. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties,
some of which are not currently known to us. Actual events or results may differ
from those expressed or implied in any such forward-looking statements as a
result of various factors, including the risk factors and other risks that are
described from time to time in the Company's filings with the SEC including but
not limited to its annual reports on Form 10-K, its quarterly reports on Form
10-Q, and its current reports on Form 8-K, filed with the SEC and available
through the Company's website, which contain a more detailed discussion of the
Company's business, including risks and uncertainties that may affect future
results. Due to such uncertainties and risks, readers are cautioned not to place
undue reliance on such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the
date hereof. Information in this press release may be superseded by more recent
information or statements, which may be disclosed in later press releases,
subsequent filings with the SEC or otherwise. The Company expressly disclaims
any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to
any forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect any change in the
Company's expectations with regard thereto or to reflect any change in events,
conditions or circumstances on which any such forward-looking statements are
based, in whole or in part.

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CONTACT: FirstCity Financial Corporation
Suzy W. Taylor
866-652-1810