PRESS RELEASE
                                                                       Contact:
                                                                 Todd A. Gipple
                                               Executive Vice President and CFO
                                                                 (309) 736-3580


For Immediate Release
April 17, 2001

                            Quad City Holdings, Inc.
                       Announces Expansion to Cedar Rapids

     Quad City Holdings,  Inc. (Nasdaq Small Cap: QCHI) today announced that its
banking  subsidiary,  Quad City Bank & Trust  Company,  has  formed a  strategic
alliance with four financial executives to establish a new financial institution
in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Larry Helling,  Mitch McElree, and Dana Nichols (formerly
of Firstar,  Cedar Rapids) and John Rodriguez  (formerly of Aegon) are to be the
executive  officers  of the  proposed  financial  institution  to be named Cedar
Rapids Bank & Trust.  Together  they have  nearly 75 years of  combined  banking
experience.  Temporary  headquarters  have been  established in the Town Center,
while permanent sites are being considered.

     Initially  the bank will  operate as a branch of Quad City Bank & Trust.  A
branch application has been submitted to the Iowa Banking Department.  The Cedar
Rapids  facility  will  open  upon  receipt  of  regulatory  approval,  which is
anticipated toward the end of May.

     An application  for a new bank charter is being prepared and is expected to
be  filed in the  very  near  future.  The  company  is  planning  to  initially
capitalize the bank at approximately $10 million, with plans to increase the
capitalization  to $15  million  over  time.  The  company  expects  to fund the
capitalization  of the new bank  through the private  placement of $5 million of
its common  stock and through  additional  borrowings.  Upon  completion  of the
banks initial capitalization and receipt of all regulatory approvals,  the bank
will operate under its own charter with local management and directors.

     Quad City Bank & Trust Company was formed in 1993 after  consolidations had
occurred  within the Quad Cities banking  community.  In just over 7 years,  the
bank's assets have increased from $4.5 million to nearly $400 million.

     Quad City Holdings,  Inc.,  headquartered  in Moline,  Illinois,  is a bank
holding company which serves the Quad City area via its wholly owned subsidiary,
Quad City Bank and Trust Company, based in Bettendorf,  Iowa. Quad City Bank and
Trust  Company,  which  commenced  operations  in  1994,  provides  full-service
commercial and consumer banking,  and trust and asset management  services.  The
company also engages in merchant credit card processing through its wholly owned
subsidiary, Quad City Bancard, In., based in Moline, Illinois.


     This  release  may  contain  forward-looking  statements.  Forward  looking
statements are identifiable by the inclusion of such  qualifications as expects,
intends,  believes,  may,  likely  or  other  indications  that  the  particular
statements  are not based  upon facts but are  rather  based upon the  Company's
beliefs as of the date of this  release.  Actual  events and  results may differ
significantly  from those described in such forward looking  statements,  due to
changes  in the  economy,  interest  rates  or  other  factors.  For  additional
information  about these factors,  please review our filings with the Securities
and Exchange Commission.