HOPEWELL VALLEY COMMUNITY BANK
PRESS RELEASE

Hopewell Valley Community Bank
Delivers Courteous Personal Service

Hopewell Township – September 12, 2003 – In March, 1998 local businessman and Hopewell Township resident Patrick L. Ryan along with a group of local business people announced plans to form a new community bank in the Hopewell Valley. Pat’s prior experience in running the family’s Anhueiser Busch distributorship, Ritchie and Paige, had taught him a lot about the need for small businesses to have a strong relationship with their bank. All around him , however, he was witnessing the consolidation of small professional local banks into large super regional financial institutions that were changing the banking scene throughout the Mercer County area. He was convinced that the Hopewell Valley needed a modern-day bank that could provide the courteous personal service that was rapidly disappearing as a result.

That summer veteran banker, James Hyman, formerly President of First Community Bank in Clinton, joined the group as President and CEO, and together they launched a capital drive that would bring in almost $8 million of capital from a community that shared the same vision of opportunity.

Staffed with a team of highly experienced banking professionals, Hopewell Valley Community Bank opened its doors to the public on February 16, 1999, in the Pennytown Shopping Village. Later that year on December 4, 1999, its headquarters was opened on Route 31 across from the Pennington Market. A third branch on Quakerbridge Road, Hamilton Township, was opened in Decembe,r 2001.

This past summer, the Bank purchased its newest branch site located at the intersection of Routes 31 & 518 in Hopewell Township. While the actual location is in Hopewell, it is directly on the county line border with Hunterdon County where we are gaining an increasing amount of business. Hyman said: “We are planning on expanding the building to about 4,000 square feet. The new “County Line Office” will become a prominent and highly visible “gateway” to Hopewell and Mercer County as well as a bridge to new business opportunities in Hunterdon County immediately to the north. The local approval process began in August and when construction is finished this location will replace our Pennytown office. Our business strategy for the future is to capitalize on the opportunities in our area, which arise as a result of economic growth and consolidation, as well as through the contacts of our directors, officers and other friends of the bank.”

We are highly involved in the communities we serve through our participation in and sponsorship of civic and charitable activities. We believe that we have distinguished ourselves from our competitors through our prompt personalized service, choice of deposit products and our customized lending products. Through our alliance with LPL/Linsco, their registered brokers offer securities, annuities and insurance in our bank branches . Additionally, we provide fixed rate residential mortgage loans, credit card services for businesses and individuals, as well as internet banking and electronic bill payment. The deposit services offered by the bank include free checking for small business and personal checking, savings accounts, and certificates of deposit.

Our lending activities are oriented to the small-to-medium sized business, professional practices, and consumer and retail customers living and working in our market area. During 2002, the bank was awarded certified lender status by the United States Small Business Administration, making the bank a more effective participant in the Small Business Administration’s guaranteed loan program and permitting the bank to provide faster loan approvals to its customers. As a certified lender, the bank receives expedited processing of its applications to the SBA for loan guarantees. The SBA then guarantees up to 75% of the loan. Virtually any business purpose can qualify for a Small Business Administration (SBA) guaranteed loan, including commercial real estate purchase, construction, business acquisition or expansion, equipment/inventory purchase, refinance, and working capital. Key advantages an SBA loan offers your company include up to 90% loan-to-value, up to 25-year, fully amortizing terms, no balloon payments, and quick approval for qualified borrowers with funding typically occurring in 30 to 45 days.

In addition, the bank has been an active participant in the United States Department of Agriculture’s B&I guaranteed loan program. Loans approved by the USDA under this program may be guaranteed by the USDA for up to 75% of the loan amount. Loans offered through the program can be made in areas other than cities of more than 50,000 people and their immediate adjacent urban areas. Certain areas located within Mercer County, Hunterdon County, Somerset, County, and many other regions of New Jersey qualify for funding through this program. The benefits of participating in this program, for businesses that may not qualify for conventional lender financing include higher loan amounts, lower interest rates, and longer repayment terms. Loans can be provided for the following eligible loan purposes including business and industrial acquisitions, construction, development costs, purchase of equipment, machinery, or supplies, start-up costs and working capital.

We also offer traditional business financing including term loans, working capital lines of credit, full term commercial real estate loans, and land acquisition and development loans, as well as home equity loans and lines of credit, fixed and adjustable rate residential mortgage loans, auto loans, and overdraft lines of credit.

At Hopewell Valley Community Bank, we take the time to understand your business goals because we know that not every company needs the same loan. And our decision is delivered to you quickly and efficiently. If you have any questions at all about how a loan program at Hopewell Valley Community Bank can take you to the next level, call Dick Koenig, Senior Vice President and Senior Lending Officer, or any one of our experienced lending team, Andre Caldini, Wally DeMoss, Linda Deckman at (609) 466-2900.

Hopewell Valley Community Bank is a full service commercial bank, a member of the FDIC and an equal housing lender. HVCB is locally owned and managed to provide professional, highly personalized banking services to individuals, families and small businesses.

For further information, please contact:
James Hyman, President & CEO
Hopewell Valley Community Bank
609 466-2900
www.hvcbonline.com
jhyman@hvcbonline.com