CONTACT: John G. Copeland
Chief Financial Officer
(662) 289-8594

May 24, 2006

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

First M&F Corporation Completes Conversions and Opens New Locations

KOSCIUSKO, Miss.- First M&F Corporation (NASDAQ:FMFC) and M&F Bank announced the completion as of May 13, 2006 of the conversion of newly acquired Bells Banking Company’s core operating system to M&F Bank’s core system. M&F had previously announced the completion of the mergers with Bells Banking Company and its parent, Crockett County Bancshares, Inc. (Tennessee) and First National Bank of Shelby County and its parent, Columbiana Bancshares, Inc. (Alabama).

"We have already converted the Alabama system to our system. This last Tennessee conversion puts our three-state network of banks on the same operating system”, stated Hugh S. Potts, Jr., Chairman and CEO of First M&F. We feel we’re now in a position to process customer transactions from our new locations in Alabama and Tennessee in the most efficient manner possible at the lowest possible cost. This news should be well received by our shareholders as we consolidate our entry into these new markets. We’re pleased with the results of our mergers and also our recent decision to split our stock, 2 for 1."

The split was effective May 15, 2006 and, as a result, the pre-split quarterly dividend of $0.26 will, on a post-split basis, go to $0.13 but on twice as many shares.

M&F Bank, headquartered in Kosciusko, Mississippi, entered Alabama through its merger with FNB of Shelby County with a six location footprint in Shelby County, Alabama, directly south of Birmingham. The Bells Banking Company merger allowed M&F to enter Tennessee where it has opened three new full service retail locations in Shelby County, Tennessee in addition to the Bells location in Crockett County, Tennessee. The three new Tennessee locations are in addition to the bank’s asset-based lending operation, M&F Business Credit, located in East Memphis. The three new full service branches in Shelby County, Tennessee are in downtown Memphis at Peabody Place, Collierville and Germantown. Debra LeJeune is the Memphis market president for M&F Bank.

First M&F Corporation, parent of Merchants & Farmers Bank, is a $1.5 billion bank holding company with 45 banking locations throughout Central and North Mississippi, central Alabama and Southwest Tennessee.

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