December 15, 2009 17:24 ET

Great Southern Bancorp, Inc. to Be Added to NASDAQ OMX American Bankers Association Community Bank Index

SPRINGFIELD, MO--(Marketwire - December 15, 2009) - Officials of Great Southern Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ: GSBC), the holding company for Great Southern Bank, today announced that it will be added to the NASDAQ OMX American Bankers Association (ABA) Community Bank Index (NASDAQ: ABQI). The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. recently announced the results of the semi-annual reranking of the ABQI, which will become effective at the market open on Monday, December 21, 2009. Great Southern is one of seven companies that will be added to the Index.

The Index is designed to track the performance of banks and thrifts, or their holding companies, listed on The NASDAQ Stock Market®. The Index is intended to serve as a benchmark for investment products by including the larger and more liquid community banks. The NASDAQ OMX ABA Community Bank Index is reranked on a semi-annual basis. For more information about the NASDAQ OMX ABA Community Bank Index, including detailed eligibility criteria, visit https://indexes.nasdaqomx.com/data.aspx?IndexSymbol=ABQI&menuIndex=0.

With total assets of $3.7 billion, Great Southern offers banking, investment, insurance and travel services. Headquartered in Springfield, Mo., Great Southern operates 72 retail banking centers and more than 200 ATMs in Missouri, Iowa, Kansas and Nebraska. The company also serves lending needs through a loan production office in Rogers, Ark. Great Southern Bancorp is a public company and its common stock (ticker: GSBC) is listed on the NASDAQ Global Select Market.

www.greatsouthernbank.com

Forward-Looking Statements

When used in documents filed or furnished by the Company with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"), in the Company's press releases or other public or shareholder communications, and in oral statements made with the approval of an authorized executive officer, the words or phrases "will likely result" "are expected to," "will continue," "is anticipated," "estimate," "project," "intends" or similar expressions are intended to identify "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, including, among other things, changes in economic conditions in the Company's market area, changes in policies by regulatory agencies, fluctuations in interest rates, the risks of lending and investing activities, including changes in the level and direction of loan delinquencies and write-offs and changes in estimates of the adequacy of the allowance for loan losses, the Company's ability to access cost-effective funding, fluctuations in real estate values and both residential and commercial real estate market conditions, demand for loans and deposits in the Company's market area and competition, that could cause actual results to differ materially from historical earnings and those presently anticipated or projected. The Company wishes to advise readers that the factors listed above could affect the Company's financial performance and could cause the Company's actual results for future periods to differ materially from any opinions or statements expressed with respect to future periods in any current statements.

The Company does not undertake -- and specifically declines any obligation -- to publicly release the result of any revisions which may be made to any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of such statements or to reflect the occurrence of anticipated or unanticipated events.