Missouri's First Bank Acquires Insurance Brokerage

　　First Bank, a wholly owned subsidiary of First Banks, Inc. (St. Louis), has acquired Adrian N. Baker & Company, a large, privately owned independent insurance brokerage company based in Clayton, Missouri that provides a range of employee benefits, and commercial and personal insurance services.

　　First Banks, with assets of $9.17 billion, operates 178 branch banking offices in California, Illinois, Missouri and Texas.

　　First Banks is basically new to the insurance brokerage area. It had only $23,000 in insurance revenues in 2005, according to the Bank Insurance Market Research Group.

　　"First Banks' affiliation with Adrian Baker provides a significant opportunity to enter this highly-specialized financial services arena with a partner that has established a long and proven history within the insurance industry,” said Terrance M. McCarthy, Chief Operating Officer of First Banks. Adrian Baker has been in business for over 65 years.

　　Under the terms of the agreement, First Bank will acquire all of the outstanding shares of common stock of Adrian Baker. The transaction was scheduled to close on March 31, 2006.