COAST BANK OF FLORIDA

St. Louis, MO November 30, 2007.  First Banks, Inc. ("First Banks") announced today completion of the previously announced acquistion of Coast Financial Holdings, Inc. (Coast Financial) and its wholly owned banking subsidiary, Coast Bank of Florida, a Florida state chartered bank (collectively,  “Coast”).  Prior to its merger with First Bank, Coast operated 20 banking offices in Florida’s Manatee, Pinellas, Hillsborough and Pasco counties.  Coast also has two planned de novo branch offices, one located in the Pinellas County community of Clearwater, and the other located in Sarasota.

At Septmeber 30, 2007 First Banks reported assets of $10.27 billion, loans, net of unearned discount, of $8.13 billion, deposits of $8.62 billion and stockholders’ equity of $856.9 million.

At September 30, 2007, Coast reported assets of $644.5 million, loans, net of unearned discount, of $564.9 million, and deposits of $632.3 million.

As our customer, we understand that you may have questions about how this transaction may affect your accounts. We are committed to making any changes that will occur as beneficial to you as possible and are working hard to ensure that we minimize any inconvenience. We are also committed to keeping you informed, and will keep this site updated with helpful information.