HCBK (MM)

PARAMUS, N.J., March 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- 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 75 industry groups cited Hudson City as the #2 bank in the country for a 5-year average return of 23.6%, #3 for a 3-year average return of 12.0%, and #2 for a one-year average return of 10.9%. The total returns are compounded annually through year-end 2007. Furthermore, Hudson City's stock performance exceeded both the Dow Jones and S&P 500 Index on a 1-year, 3-year, and 5-year basis. Hudson City's performance outpaced the Dow Jones Industrial Average which increased 8.9%, 9.7% and 12.2% and the S&P 500 which increased 5.5%, 8.6% and 12.8% respectively. "These are exciting times for Hudson City," said Ronald E. Hermance, Jr., Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Hudson City. "In what has been a challenging environment for the financial industry, we continue to focus on our strong underwriting policies and sound lending practices, while offering some of the most competitive rates in the New York metropolitan area. Our performance cited in The Wall Street Journal Scoreboard is a testament to our discipline, hard work and commitment to shareholder value." "Total assets for the Bank have consistently grown from $8.5 billion to over $44 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 $127 million are 84% higher than the national average of $69 million at 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 25.7%, better than half the national average. In addition, recent reports rank our mortgage quality in the top 1% among the largest mortgage lenders," said Hermance. The Wall Street Journal acknowledgement does not stand alone. Forbes recently named Hudson City "The Best-Managed Bank of 2007" and Jim Cramer, host of CNBC's hit financial news program, Mad Money, presented Hudson City's Hermance with his inaugural "Banker of the Year" award. 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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