HOPEWELL VALLEY COMMUNITY BANK
P R E S S   R E L E A S E

HOPEWELL VALLEY COMMUNITY BANK ANNOUNCES RECORD THIRD QUARTER
EARNINGS

  BANK AWARDED PRESTIGIOUS 5-STAR BAUER RATING

In only its second full year of operation Hopewell Valley Community Bank (HVCB) attained solid earnings in the third quarter of 2001. Earnings for the June to September period in 2001 were $85,965, a 240% increase over the ($61,714) loss for the same period in 2000. Nine month year to date earning results show a total of $91,904 for 2001 improving 124% over the loss of ($380,112) for 2000.

Fueling the improved results was a 36.6% increase in deposits to $57,331,233 in the first nine months of 2001 compared to $41,970,410 in the same 2000 period. The bank’s total assets showed comparable growth with a 36.4% increase of $65,397,400 in 2001 from $47,945,323 in 2000. Despite the bank’s steady growth during this period, total operating expenses increased only 8.8% to $1,745,261 in 2001 from $1,603,957 in the 2000 period.

President and CEO James Hyman said: “The primary drivers of our move to profitability were the bank’s growth, our ability to adjust our cost of funds to the rapidly declining interest rate environment and our constant attention to productivity and cost control. As our institution grows and matures we will strive to continue this performance. In order to support continued quality growth we are looking forward to the opening of our third office at 3800 Quakerbridge Road in Hamilton Township before the end of November.”

HVCB also received a prestigious FIVE STAR Superior Rating from independent industry evaluation firm BAUERFINANCIAL Reports on October 15, 2001. FIVE STARS is Bauer’s top rating and it indicates the rated institution is in Bauer’s estimation “…safe, financially sound and is operating well above its regulatory capital requirements.” Hopewell Valley is the only Mercer County based commercial bank with a FIVE STAR rating.