Exhibit 28

            News Release

            First Midwest Bancorp
            300 Park Blvd., Suite 405
            P.O. Box 459
            Itasca, Illinois  60143-0459
            (708)-875-7450

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:    James M. Roolf
             (708) 875-7452
TRADED:     NASDAQ/NMS    
SYMBOL:     FMBI          

                    FIRST MIDWEST BANCORP ANNOUNCES
                     STOCK REPURCHASE PROGRAM

ITASCA, IL., NOVEMBER 17, 1995--FIRST MIDWEST BANCORP, INC.  (NASDAQ/NMS:FMBI)
has announced that at its regular quarterly meeting on November  15, the Board
of  Directors  authorized  the   repurchase  of  up  to  800,000   shares,  or
approximately  6.5%,  of its  Common  Stock  outstanding.   The  authorization
permits the Company to repurchase shares from time to time in both open market
and private transactions.  Incident to this authorization, the Board rescinded
a November, 1993 repurchase authorization.

The repurchased shares  will be  reserved for future  issuance in  conjunction
with  the Company's  dividend  reinvestment plan,  qualified and  nonqualified
retirement plans,  stock option plans  as well as for  other general corporate
purposes.  The authorization  has no time  limitation and will see  management
effect repurchases as deemed prudent.

Additionally,  the Board amended the Company's  Rights Agreement first adopted
in  1989.  The Amendments were the result  of a routine review and updating of
certain  provisions  of the  Rights Agreement.    Among other  amendments, the
threshold at which an  acquiring person will "trigger" the  rights was lowered
from 15% to 10% and the exercise price was increased to $100.

Robert P. O'Meara,  President and  CEO, First Midwest  Bancorp, Inc.,  stated,
"These  changes were  made  in the  regular  process of  reviewing our  Rights
Agreement and were not made in response to any takeover or related overture."



A letter to stockholders regarding the amended Rights  Agreement and a summary
of  certain  terms  of  this  amended  Rights  Agreement  will  be  mailed  to
stockholders shortly.

At $3.0 billion,  First Midwest  Bancorp is Illinois'  third largest  publicly
traded bank holding company  and is engaged in commercial  banking, investment
management, trust and mortgage activities in northern Illinois.

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