HCBK (MM)

PARAMUS, N.J., Oct. 3 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Hudson City Bancorp, Inc. ("Hudson City") (NASDAQ:HCBK), the largest savings bank headquartered in New Jersey and the third largest thrift in the United States, announced today that it has promoted Thomas E. Laird (54) and James C. Kranz (59), to the position of Executive Vice President. Kranz, who was promoted to the position of Chief Financial Officer January 1, 2007, joined Hudson City in 1983, and has more than 36 years of experience in the banking industry. Laird began his career with Hudson City in 1974, in the Retail Operations of the bank, and now serves as head of lending. According to a recent study, Hudson City quality ranks in the top one percent among the largest mortgage lenders for conservative mortgage underwriting standards. "Hudson City has long been recognized as the Most Efficient Bank in the Country. Our goal is to anticipate growth and ensure that we have the talent, technological infrastructure, and operating controls to manage it effectively. Tom and Jim are vital contributors to the growth and success of this institution. We will continue to look to them for their leadership now and in the future," said Ronald E. Hermance, Jr., Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Hudson City. Hudson City embarked on its winning growth strategy in 2003 and has since increased its number of branches by 46%, from 81 to 118. At the beginning of 2007, Forbes named Hudson City One of America's Best Big Companies and in February it was added to the S&P 500 Index. Hudson City also received top rankings in the Wall Street Journal's 2007 Annual Shareholder Performance Scoreboard. The Wall Street Journal cited Hudson City as the number two bank in the country as ranked by a five-year average return of 30.29%. The New York Times has recognized Hudson City's strong performance as well. On September 25, 2007, Hudson City was cited as the top-performing bank in the S&P 500 over the past year with a 15.6% return. Hudson City Savings Bank, among the top fifty banks in the United States by asset size, is recognized as The Most Efficient Bank in the country. This enables Hudson City to deliver significant values to customers in the form of higher deposit yields, competitive mortgage rates, and lower fees. Hudson City, the largest savings bank headquartered in New Jersey, also serves customers throughout the surrounding metropolitan area with branches located in Westchester, Fairfield, Putnam, and Rockland counties, as well as in Long Island, Staten Island, and the New Jersey suburbs of Philadelphia. Deposit accounts at Hudson City are FDIC insured to the maximum allowed by law. This release may contain certain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, and may be identified by the use of such words as "may," "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "should," "plan," "estimate," "predict," "continue," and "potential" or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology. Examples of forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, estimates with respect to the financial condition, results of operations and business of Hudson City Bancorp that are subject to various factors which could cause actual results to differ materially from these estimates. Any or all of the forward-looking statements in this release and in any other public statements made by Hudson City may turn out to be wrong. They can be affected by inaccurate assumptions Hudson City might make or by known or unknown risks and uncertainties. Consequently, no forward-looking statement can be guaranteed. Hudson City does not intend to update any of the forward-looking statements after the date of this release or to conform these statements to actual events. DATASOURCE: Hudson City Bancorp, Inc. CONTACT: Susan Munhall, Investor Relations of Hudson City Bancorp, Inc., +1-201-967-8290, Web site: http://www.hcbk.com/

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