HCBK (MM)

PARAMUS, N.J., Jan. 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Hudson City Bancorp, Inc. ("Hudson City") (NASDAQ:HCBK), the largest savings bank headquartered in New Jersey and the second largest thrift in the United States, was named The Best-Managed Bank of 2007. According to Forbes, "Revenue has grown an average 17% over the past five years. Hudson City's stock, up 22% over the past three years, easily beat its fellow thrifts, down 23%." "Hudson City is running on all cylinders," said Ronald E. Hermance, Jr., Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Hudson City. "Total assets for the Bank have consistently grown from $8.5 billion to over $42 billion since first going public in 1999. Our residential mortgage lending grew at a compounded annual rate of 24% over the same time period. At Hudson City, the average deposits per branch of $124 million are 80% higher than the national average of $69 million of FDIC insured banks. The growth-rate in our new geographic markets, known as some of the most lucrative markets in the country, has exceeded our expectations. We anticipate additional growth in these new areas and our existing markets as we continue to be the lowest cost provider in the country. This is achieved with an efficiency ratio of 25.6%, better than half the national average. In addition, recent reports rank our mortgage quality in the top one percent among the largest mortgage lenders." said Hermance. According to Forbes, "Unlike at some other regional banks, Chief Executive Ronald Hermance Jr. ignored the call of exotic loans to people with subpar credit. Instead, he and Hudson City stuck to making 'jumbo' prime loans that have been their bread and butter for years. . . That proves a strong incentive to underwrite responsibly, and it shows: Nonperforming assets are just 0.26%, compared with 1.65% at the nation's largest thrift. . . ." Hudson City's performance has not gone unnoticed by Wall Street. In February, Hudson City was added to the S&P 500 Index. It 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, Hudson City Bancorp, Inc., +1-201-967-8290, Web site: http://www.hcbk.com/

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