Bank Mutual Corp. Announces Bank Merger; Forms One Bank with New Name.

Business Editors

MILWAUKEE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 10, 2003

Bank Mutual Corporation today announced that its Mutual Savings Bank and First Northern Savings Bank subsidiaries will merge into one bank with the new name Bank Mutual. At the time of the merger on March 17, customers will be able to transact business at any of the new Bank's 69 offices throughout Wisconsin and one office in Woodbury, Minnesota.

Michael T. Crowley Jr., President and CEO of Mutual Savings Bank, has been named President and CEO of the new bank. Michael Meeuwsen, President and CEO of First Northern Savings Bank, steps into the role of Executive Vice President and COO of the new Bank Mutual. Their current positions with Bank Mutual Corporation will remain the same.

"The merger and name change are part of our overall vision for long-term growth in Wisconsin which can be better accomplished by combining the 'best practices' of both organizations into one new entity," said Crowley. "The name Bank Mutual reflects the strength of our parent company and will provide a sense of unity for our customers and employees." The company will also adopt a new logo to coincide with the name change and all location signs will be changed by the end of March.

Since forming the Bank Mutual Corporation over two years ago, merging First Northern Savings Bank and Mutual Savings Bank has been a significant but gradual process of blending operational functions, including accounting and computer systems.

Another priority for Bank Mutual has been to smoothly establish a unified corporate culture for its new organization with the development of key strategic components such as a Vision Declaration, Guiding Principles, Profitability Statement and Shared Leadership Pledge. Because Mutual Savings and First Northern staff has formed strong personal relationships with their customers throughout the years, Crowley emphasized that associate training has been crucial in order to ensure that Bank Mutual continues this tradition of quality customer service.

The bank has also made a major investment in creating an integrated marketing effort for the new Bank Mutual brand name. A multi-media advertising campaign will spotlight various Bank Mutual associates from around the state in television and radio spots. Newspaper, direct mail and out-of-home exposure will also play a key role, in addition to an update of the bank's web site. The campaign is scheduled to launch on Monday, March 17.

"This merger provides energy and momentum that will lead us into the future," said Meeuwsen. "We're excited that we now have a new identity to communicate that energy to our customers."

Bank Mutual Corporation is traded on the NASDAQ Stock Market under the symbol "BKMU". It is the fifth largest banking institution headquartered in Wisconsin with assets of $2.8 billion. Its two subsidiary banks, Mutual Savings Bank and First Northern Savings Bank, operate 69 offices in the state of Wisconsin and one office in Minnesota.

Cautionary Statements

The discussions in this news release which are not historical statements contain forward-looking statements that involve risk and uncertainties. Statements which are not historical statements include those in the future tense or which use terms such as "believe," "expect," and "anticipate." Bank Mutual's actual future results could differ in important and material ways from those discussed. Many factors could cause or contribute to such differences. These factors include changing interest rates, changes in demand for loans or other services, competition from other institutions, the results of our lending activities and loan loss experience, the effects of the merger of the two bank subsidiaries and the integration of our operations, general economic and political developments, and other factors discussed in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.