fr§ FORESiGHT

NEWS RELEASE financial group) inc.

FORESIGHT FINANCIAL GROUP, INC.

3106 N. Rockton Ave. Rockford, Illinois 61103

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 17, 2017 FOR INFORMATION,

CONTACT: Brent Myers

President & CEO or (815) 865-5125

Dean Cooke

Chief Financial Officer (815) 847-7500

FORESIGHT REPORTS ANNUAL 2016 OPERATING RESULTS

Foresight Financial Group, Inc., a Rockford, IL based multi-bank holding company with fifteen banking offices in Winnebago, Stephenson, and Kankakee counties, reports that for the full year of 2016, net income decreased by 6% to $9,933,000 from record earnings of $10,544,000 reported in the year 2015. Net income for 2015 included a non-taxable Discount Purchase Gain of $1,133,000 resultant from the company's acquisition of the State Bank of Herscher in July 2015. A comparison of core net operating income (excluding 2015 Discount Purchase Gain) reflects an improvement in 2016 earnings of 5.5% or $522,000 over 2015. Basic earnings per common share of $2.73 represent a decline of $0.18 from that reported for 2015. Basic earnings per common share of $2.91 reported in 2015 included a $0.31 benefit from the company's recorded Discount Purchase Gain. Return on average assets for 2016 was 0.90%, and return on stockholders' equity was 9.21%.

Foresight President Brent Myers stated: "Core earnings for 2016 increased by $0.13 per share over record 2015 core earnings. All of our subsidiary banks attained earning levels above projected budgets in 2016. Credit costs related to provision for potential loan losses increased by

$1.26 million related to purchase accounting transactions of purchased credit impaired loans that

have been restricted to earning assets. Net interest income (pre-provision) reflect s improvement of $3.76 million or 11.5% with non-interest income improving $1.1 million or 18%. Operating expenses reflect an increase of 12.0% or $2.9 million which includes overhead of a full year of operations of the company's sixth subsidiary bank. At year end, the allowance for possible loan losses of $15.5 million remains at approximately 2.0% of total loans which based on credit evaluation is sufficient to manage existing and additional credit issues."

Foresight' s main customer related net balance sheet changes over the past year reflect strong and managed growth, as total loans, deposits, and assets increased by 8.0%, 5.3% and 5.4% respectively to $784 million, $986 million, and $1.135 billion. Foresight continues to hold the largest market share of deposits of any financial institution operating in Stephenson County.

Foresight's conununity banks include Northwest Bank of Rockford, State Bank in Freeport, State Bank of Davis, German-American State Bank, German Valley, Lena State Bank and the State Bank of Herscher. Foresight's common stock is listed on the OTC Pink marketplace under the trading symbol FGFH. Closing price for the common stock was $30.30 per share at the close of

business January 13, 2017. CORPORATE OFFICES:

3106.N. Rockton Ave. Rodiford. IL 61103-2839 Phone: 815.847. 7500 Fax: 815.967.6107

Foresight Financial Group Inc. published this content on 17 January 2017 and is solely responsible for the information contained herein.
Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 17 January 2017 19:46:02 UTC.

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