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                UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
                              Washington, DC 20549

                                     FORM 4

               STATEMENT OF CHANGES IN BENEFICIAL OWNERSHIP

    Filed pursuant to Section 16(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934,
       Section 17(a) of the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 or
               Section 30(h) of the Investment Company Act of 1940

|_|  Check box if no longer  subject to Section 16. Form 4 or Form 5 obligations
     may continue. See Instruction 1(b).

________________________________________________________________________________
1.   Name and Address of Reporting Person*

  vonHahmann                          Bryan                  G
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   (Last)                            (First)              (Middle)

  1437 Route 318
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                    (Street)

  Waterloo                          New York               13165
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   (City)                            (State)                (Zip)
________________________________________________________________________________
2.   Issuer Name and Ticker or Trading Symbol
         Financial Institutions, Inc. - FISI
________________________________________________________________________________
3.   I.R.S. Identification Number of Reporting Person, if an entity (Voluntary)
________________________________________________________________________________
4.   Statement for Month/Day/Year
         2/18/2003
________________________________________________________________________________
5.   If Amendment, Date of Original (Month/Day/Year)
________________________________________________________________________________
6.   Relationship of Reporting Person(s) to Issuer
     (Check all applicable)

     |x|  Director                             |_|  10% Owner
     |_|  Officer (give title below)           |_|  Other (specify below)

________________________________________________________________________________
7.   Individual or Joint/Group Filing
     (check applicable line)

     |x|  Form filed by One Reporting Person
     |_|  Form filed by More than One Reporting Person
_______________________________________________________________________________


<PAGE>

================================================================================
           Table I -- Non-Derivative Securities Acquired, Disposed of,
                             or Beneficially Owned
================================================================================
<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
                                                                                                 5.             6.
                                                                 4.                              Amount of      Owner-
                                                                 Securities Acquired (A) or      Securities     ship
                                       2A.          3.           Disposed of (D)                 Beneficially   Form:     7.
                            2.         Deemed       Transaction  (Instr. 3, 4 and 5)             Owned Follow-  Direct    Nature of
                            Trans-     Execution    Code         ------------------------------- ing Reported   (D) or    Indirect
1.                          action     Date, if     (Instr. 8)                   (A)             Transaction(s) Indirect  Beneficial
Title of Security           Date       any          ------------                 or              (Instr 3       (I)       Ownership
(Instr. 3)                 (mm/dd/yy) (mm/dd/yy)    Code     V       Amount      (D)    Price     & 4)          (Instr.4) (Instr.4)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
<S>                         <C>        <C>          <C>     <C>      <C>         <C>    <C>      <C>            <C>       <C>

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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====================================================================================================================================
</TABLE>

<PAGE>

FORM 4 (continued)

Table II -- Derivative Securities Acquired, Disposed of, or Beneficially Owned
            (e.g., puts, calls, warrants, options, convertible securities)

================================================================================
<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
                                                                                                                    10.
                                                                                                          9.        Owner-
                                                                                                          Number    ship
             2.                                                                                           of        of
             Conver-                            5.                              7.                        Deriv-    Deriv-   11.
             sion                               Number of                       Title and Amount          ative     ative    Nature
             or                                 Derivative    6.                of Underlying     8.      Secur-    Secur-   of
             Exer-            3A.      4.       Securities    Date              Securities        Price   ities     ity:     In-
             cise             Deemed   Trans-   Acquired (A)  Exercisable and   (Instr. 3 and 4)  of      Bene-     Direct   direct
             Price   3.       Execut-  action   or Disposed   Expiration Date   ----------------  Deriv-  ficially  (D) or   Bene-
1.           of      Trans-   ion      Code     of(D)         (Month/Day/Year)            Amount  ative   Owned     In-      ficial
Title of     Deriv-  action   Date if  (Instr.  (Instr. 3,    ----------------            or      Secur-  Following direct   Owner-
Derivative   ative   Date     any      8)       4 and 5)      Date     Expira-            Number  ity     Reported  (I)      ship
Security     Secur-  (mm/dd/  (mm/dd/  ------   ------------  Exer-    tion               of      (Instr. Trans (s) (Instr.  (Instr.
(Instr. 3)   ity     yy)      yy)      Code V    (A)   (D)    cisable  Date     Title     Shares  5)      (Instr 4)  4)       4)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
<S>          <C>     <C>               <C>  <C>  <C>   <C>    <C>      <C>      <C>       <C>     <C>     <C>       <C>      <C>
Common Stock
Options
(Right                                                                          Common
To Buy)      $22.51   02/18/03          A         200         (1)      02/18/13 Stock      200             200       D
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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====================================================================================================================================
</TABLE>

Explanation of Responses:

(1)   Options vest at rate of 33 1/3% per year beginning on the first
      anniversary of grant date specified in Column 3.

  /s/ Sonia M. Dumbleton                                      February 19, 2003
---------------------------------------------            -----------------------
 Sonia M. Dumbleton for Bryan G vonHahmann                          Date

Reminder: Report on a separate line for each class of securities beneficially
           owned directly or indirectly.

*    If the form is filed by more than one reporting person, see instruction
     4(b)(v).

**   Intentional misstatements or omissions of facts constitute Federal Criminal
     Violations.

     See 18 U.S.C. 1001 and 15 U.S.C. 78ff(a).

Note:  File three copies of this Form, one of which must be manually signed.
       If space provided is insufficient, see Instruction 6 for procedure.


<PAGE>


                    AUTHORIZATION TO FILE SECTION 16 REPORTS

I hereby authorize and designate Ronald A. Miller, Sonia M. Dumbleton or Michael
D. Grover to execute and file or cause to be filed, on my behalf any Forms 3, 4
and 5, including any amendments thereto, that I may voluntarily or be required
to file with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission as a result of my
ownership of, or transactions in, securities of Financial Institutions, Inc.
This authority shall continue until I am no longer required to file such forms,
or until sooner revoked by me in writing.

In witness whereof, I have executed this authorization this 4th day of December
2002.

                                               /s/ Bryan G. vonHahmann
                                               --------------------------------
                                                   Bryan G. vonHahmann
                                                        Director
                                                 Financial Institutions, Inc.

