Allegiant Bancorp, Inc. Declares Fourth Quarter Dividend.

Business Editors

ST. LOUIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 3, 2001

Allegiant Bancorp, Inc. (Nasdaq National Market symbol:ALLE), a St. Louis-headquartered bank holding company, declared its regular quarterly dividend of 6 cents per share of Common Stock consistent with its previously announced dividend policy. The dividend is payable January 16, 2002, to Shareholders of record as of January 2, 2002.

Allegiant also previously announced an increase in its regular quarterly dividend to six and one-half cents per share of Common Stock. The increase will be effective for the next dividend to be declared in 2002 and Allegiant's annual dividend will increase from $0.24 to $0.26 per share. Allegiant, which was founded in 1989, has now increased its dividend for ten consecutive years.

As of September 30, 2001, Allegiant reported, on a consolidated basis, total assets of $2.1 billion, loans of $1.4 billion, deposits of $1.6 billion and shareholders' equity of $146 million.

As previously announced, on August 22, 2001, we signed an agreement with Guardian Savings Bank, headquartered in Houston, Texas, to purchase Guardian's five branch offices in St. Louis County, Missouri. We will acquire the branch facilities and assume approximately $101.3 million in related deposit liabilities. The purchase of these offices, which we expect will be completed in December 2001, is consistent with our strategic plan of expanding our branch network in the St. Louis market.

Allegiant Bancorp, Inc. is the parent company of Allegiant Bank, Bank of St. Genevieve, State Bank of Jefferson County and Bank of St. Charles County. Allegiant is the fourth largest banking institution headquartered in the State of Missouri and the largest publicly owned banking company headquartered in St. Louis. Allegiant focuses on providing banking services to small and middle-market businesses and individuals by offering a full range of banking services, including mortgage banking, private banking, on line banking, brokerage services, insurance products, trust services and cash management products, in addition to traditional retail and commercial loan and deposit products.

Certain statements in this report relating to present or future trends or factors affecting the banking industry, and specifically, the operations, markets and products of Allegiant Bancorp, Inc., may be deemed to be forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Allegiant's actual strategies and results in future periods may differ materially from those currently expected due to various risks and uncertainties. Additional discussion of factors affecting Allegiant's business and prospects is contained in Allegiant's periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Allegiant undertakes no obligation to report revisions to these forward-looking statements or reflect events or circumstances after the date of this release.