Feature News

Company Grows Balance Sheet Without Use of TARP Funds; Reports Asset Growth of $45 Million, Bringing Total to $421 Million

ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, N.J., April 29 /PRNewswire/ -- North Jersey Community Bank (NJCB), the fastest growing bank in New Jersey, today announced its results for the quarter ended March 31, 2009.

Highlights Include:

• Total Assets grew nearly 12 percent to $421 million
• Total Deposits grew to more than $342 million
• Experienced most profitable quarter since NJCB's inception
• Produced incredibly strong asset quality

"Despite a tumultuous banking environment, NJCB continued its successful 2008 through the first quarter of 2009. By focusing on our simple plan of taking in deposits and making loans to qualified customers in our community, coupled with our ideals of providing exceptional customer service and industry leading products, we have achieved sound growth for the seventeenth consecutive quarter," said Frank Sorrentino III, chairman and CEO of North Jersey Community Bank. "Despite being approved for TARP funds, we did not accept, and we continued to grow our balance sheet and remain well capitalized. We are also one of only a handful of community banks chartered in New Jersey in the last 10 years that is profitable."

As a result of its overwhelming success, NJCB recently expanded into Hudson County when it opened its sixth branch in West New York, located at 5914 Park Avenue, at the corner of 60th Street.

"Our traditional business model has contributed greatly to our solid growth in assets, deposits and loans during the first quarter. However, it's our outstanding team of employees and dedicated customers that remain the backbone of our success," continued Sorrentino III. "In four years, NJCB has grown to be the leading community bank in New Jersey and I am proud of the recent interest we have received from the national media, who have highlighted us as a community banking model and a success story on how to run a bank when consumers have lost faith in the industry."

NJCB offers a complete range of financial services for both personal and business customers, backed by advanced technology. The bank provides a full line of banking products and services, including mortgages, home equity loans and lines of credit, as well as a wide selection of commercial services. Its Simply Better Money Market Account, with one of the highest rates in the area, is available for both business and personal accounts and includes free checking and free online bill pay. The bank features signature amenities including a free coffee bar, customer lounge and business center complete with plasma screen TVs and internet connections. Each of the six branches also feature NJCB's exclusive "Coin Toss" free coin counting machine as well as extended lobby hours from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., Monday through Friday and 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Saturday. In addition, the Cresskill, Cliffside/Fort Lee, Hackensack and West New York locations offer a drive-thru window with extended hours from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. NJCB also provides 24-hour ATM service and free online banking at www.njcb.com.

About North Jersey Community Bank (NJCB):

North Jersey Community Bank was founded by local community and business leaders to provide the highest level of personalized community banking services to Northern New Jersey. With a strong commitment to the communities it serves, the bank offers a variety of innovative deposit and loan products.

North Jersey Community Bank was recently named number 18 on NJBIZ's 50 Fastest Growing Companies list and was a finalist for the publication's Emerging Business of the Year award.

In addition, NJCB was also a recipient of the Forbes(R) Enterprise Awards--the most esteemed and sought after small-business awards in the United States. The Forbes(R) Enterprise Awards honor the visionary practices and exemplary achievements of a select few small businesses.

NJCB is an Equal Housing and Equal Opportunity Lender, and a member of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. For more information, call 201-816-8900, or visit the bank's web site at www.njcb.com.