HCBK (MM)

Hudson City Bancorp, Inc. ("Hudson City") (NASDAQ: HCBK) received top rankings in The Wall Street Journal's Annual Shareholder Scoreboard. The Wall Street Journal Scoreboard of 1,000 companies across 76 industry groups cited Hudson City as the #1 bank in the country for a 5-year average return of 33.6 percent and #2 for a 3-year average return of 30.5 percent. The total returns are compounded annually through year-end 2005. "I am extremely proud of our fine organization and its superior performance for our shareholders, our customers and our community," said Ronald E. Hermance, Jr., Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Hudson City. Last month, Hudson City agreed to acquire Sound Federal Bancorp, Inc. ("Sound Federal") (NASDAQ: SFFS), expanding its metropolitan New York franchise. At the time of the announcement, Sound Federal Savings Bank had $1.15B in assets, $970M in deposits, and $711M in net loans. Its branch network, 14 strong, is concentrated in New York's Westchester, Rockland, and Putnam Counties as well as Fairfield, Connecticut. Upon anticipated completion of the transaction, in summer 2006, Hudson City will rank as the fourth largest savings and loan in the country, with over $29 billion in assets and 104 branches in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. Hudson City Savings Bank is a well-established banking institution with a long-standing tradition of service excellence. Hudson City is recognized as The Most Efficient Bank in the country, which enables it to provide better value to customers in the form of higher deposit yields, competitive mortgage rates, lower closing fees, and a straightforward streamlined process. Hudson City, one of the leading savings banks in the country, serves customers throughout metropolitan New York, Long Island, New Jersey and Philadelphia. Deposit accounts at Hudson are FDIC insured to the maximum amount allowed by law.