Allen H. Blake, President and Chief Executive Officer of First Banks, Inc. ("First Banks") (NASDAQ: FBNKN) (NASDAQ: FBNKM) (NYSE: FBSPRA), and Stan Calderon, President and Chief Executive Officer of CIB Marine Bancshares, Inc. ("CIB Marine"), jointly announced completion today of the previously announced acquisition of CIB Marine's wholly-owned Chicago banking subsidiary, CIB Bank, Hillside, Illinois ("CIB Bank - Chicago"), through First Banks' acquisition of Hillside Investors, Ltd. ("Hillside"), a wholly-owned subsidiary of CIB Marine, for $67.4 million in cash.

Allen H. Blake, President and Chief Executive Officer of First Banks, said, "The acquisition of CIB Bank - Chicago is the largest acquisition in First Banks' history and has increased our total assets by more than 16%." Blake added, "The addition of CIB Bank - Chicago greatly expands our presence in the Chicago metropolitan area, increasing our Chicago banking operation to 23 branch banking offices and, consistent with our growth strategy, will allow us to build a more substantial local infrastructure in Chicago to better serve our customers and communities in this dynamic and important market."

Terrance M. McCarthy, Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of First Banks, said, "We are very excited about this transaction and the addition of CIB Bank - Chicago to the First Banks family. This acquisition will provide Chicago area customers with First Banks' broad array of banking services, along with internet banking and substantially expanded ATM and branch networks." McCarthy added, "We look forward to strengthening First Banks' involvement in the local communities. We will continue our commitment to provide the highest level of customer service for our customers, while offering an extensive line of banking services, including a wide range of commercial and personal deposit products, consumer and commercial loans, mortgage banking, debit cards, automated teller machines, brokerage services, telephone banking, trust services, private banking and institutional money management services."

Stan Calderon, President and Chief Executive Officer of CIB Marine, said, "The sale of CIB Bank - Chicago is an important milestone that will strengthen our Company's capital position and sharpen our strategic focus on our community bank operations in Central Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana, Florida, Nebraska, Arizona and Nevada. We are confident that First Banks will continue to provide CIB Bank - Chicago customers with quality service."

First Banks' acquisition of CIB Bank - Chicago will provide 16 additional banking offices in the Chicago, Illinois metropolitan area, including ten offices in Cook County, three offices in Lake County, two offices in Will County and one office in DuPage County. At September 30, 2004, CIB Bank - Chicago reported total assets of approximately $1.24 billion, loans, net of unearned discount, of approximately $724.7 million and total deposits of approximately $1.14 billion.

At September 30, 2004, First Banks had consolidated assets of $7.57 billion and operated 151 branch banking offices in Missouri, Illinois, California and Texas.

This release contains forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties arising out of or affecting the Company's business, not all of which can be predicted or anticipated. These statements are based on information currently available to First Banks' management, and numerous factors might cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated in the forward-looking statements. For additional information, see the discussions of forward-looking statements that appear in the "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" sections of First Banks' most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.