First Midwest Bancorp, Inc. Named by Forbes as One of America's Most Trustworthy Companies

ITASCA, IL--(Marketwire - Apr 24, 2012) - First Midwest Bancorp, Inc. (the "Company" or "First Midwest") (NASDAQ: FMBI), the holding company of First Midwest Bank, is pleased to announce that it has been recognized by Forbes as one of America's Most Trustworthy Companies for 2012. The list of the 100 most trustworthy companies was published on March 20, 2012 and was developed by GMIRATINGS (GMI).

GMI performs a quantitative and qualitative analysis that looks beyond the companies' raw financial data to assess the true quality of corporate accounting and management practices. This is the fifth year that GMI has provided Forbes with a list identifying the 100 Most Trustworthy Companies. GMI examined more than 8,000 companies that are publicly traded on all the American exchanges. The extensive analysis resulted in the 100 companies being identified and recognized for consistent transparency and conservative accounting practices and solid corporate governance and management.

"Of the 100 companies achieving this recognition for 2012, there are 18 bank holding companies nationally and I am very pleased to say that First Midwest is the only Illinois-based banking organization to achieve this important accolade and most gratifying award," said Michael L. Scudder, President and Chief Executive Officer of First Midwest Bancorp, Inc. Adding, "We take great pride in knowing that this recognition is reflective of the collective work of our Board and Management team and all First Midwest employees."

About the Company
First Midwest is the premier relationship-based banking franchise in the dynamic Chicagoland banking market. As one of the Chicago metropolitan area's largest independent bank holding companies, First Midwest provides the full range of business and retail banking and wealth management services through approximately 100 offices located in communities in metropolitan Chicago, northwest Indiana, central and western Illinois, and eastern Iowa. First Midwest was recently recognized by the Chicago Tribune for the second straight year as one of the top 20 best places to work in Chicago among large employers.