First Defiance Financial Corp. Named to Russell 3000 Index

DEFIANCE, Ohio, June 30 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- First Defiance Financial
Corp. (Nasdaq: FDEF) has been added to the broad-market Russell 3000 Index
after Russell Investments reconstituted its comprehensive set of U.S. and
global equity indexes on June 26, 2009.

The Russell U.S. indexes are reconstituted annually as of the end of May based
on total market capitalization. Membership in the Russell 3000, which remains
in place for one year, means automatic inclusion in the large-cap Russell 1000
Index or small-cap Russell 2000 Index as well as the appropriate growth and
value style indexes. Russell determines membership for its equity indexes
primarily by objective, market-capitalization rankings and style attributes.

"Inclusion in the Russell 3000 Index represents market recognition and
acceptance," said William J. Small, Chairman, President and CEO of First
Defiance. "This is another opportunity to increase our company's visibility,
highlight our unique standing among community banks in the Midwest, and bring
our focused strategy to the attention of a wider audience of investors."

First Defiance Financial Corp. is the holding company for First Federal Bank
of the Midwest and First Insurance and Investments. First Federal is a
community bank serving northwest Ohio, southeast Michigan, and northeast
Indiana where it currently operates 35 banking centers. First Insurance &
Investments is a full line insurance agency with offices in Defiance and
Bowling Green, Ohio.

Russell indexes are widely used by investment managers and institutional
investors for index funds and as benchmarks for both passive and active
investment strategies. An industry-leading $4 trillion in assets currently are
benchmarked to them. These investment tools originated from Russell's
multi-manager investment business in the early 1980s when the company saw the
need for a more objective, market-driven set of benchmarks in order to
evaluate outside investment managers.

Total returns data for the Russell 3000 and other Russell Indexes is available
at http://www.russell.com/Indexes/performance/default.asp.

About Russell:

Russell Investments provides strategic advice, world-class implementation,
state-of-the-art performance benchmarks and a range of institutional-quality
investment products. Russell has $136 billion in assets under management as of
March 31, 2009, and serves individual, institutional and advisor clients in
more than 40 countries. Founded in 1936, Russell is a subsidiary of The
Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company.

SOURCE First Defiance Financial Corp.

William J. Small, Chairman, President and CEO, First Defiance Financial Corp.,
+1-419-782-5015, fdef@first-fed.com