VLY Valley National Bancorp

Item 6. Indemnification of Directors and Officers.

Indemnification. Article VI of the Company’s certificate of incorporation provides that the corporation shall indemnify its present and former officers, directors, employees, and agents and persons serving at its request against expenses, including attorney’s fees, judgments, fines or amounts paid in settlement, incurred in connection with any pending or threatened action, suit, or proceeding, whether civil, criminal, administrative or investigative, to the full extent permitted by the New Jersey Business Corporation Act. The Article also provides that such indemnification shall not exclude any other rights to indemnification to which a person may otherwise be entitled, and authorizes the corporation to purchase insurance on behalf of any of the persons enumerated against any liability whether or not the corporation would have the power to indemnify him under the provisions of Article VI.

The New Jersey Business Corporation Act empowers a corporation to indemnify a corporate agent against his expenses and liabilities incurred in connection with any proceeding (other than a derivative lawsuit) involving the corporate agent by reason of his being or having been a corporate agent if (a) the agent acted in good faith and in a manner he reasonably believed to be in or not opposed to the best interests of the corporation, and (b) with respect to any criminal proceeding, the corporate agent had No reasonable cause to believe his conduct was unlawful. For purposes of the Act, the term “corporate agent” includes any present or former director, officer, employee or agent of the corporation, and a person serving as a “corporate agent” at the request of the corporation for any other enterprise.

With respect to any derivative action, the corporation is empowered to indemnify a corporate agent against his expenses (but not his liabilities) incurred in connection with any proceeding involving the corporate agent by reason of his being or having been a corporate agent if the agent acted in good faith and in a manner he reasonably believed to be in or not opposed to the best interests of the corporation. However, only the New Jersey Superior Court or the court in which the proceeding was brought can empower a corporation to indemnify a corporate agent against expenses with respect to any claim, issue or matter as to which the agent was adjudged liable to the corporation.

The corporation may indemnify a corporate agent in a specific case if a determination is made by any of the following that the applicable standard of conduct was met: (i) the board of directors, or a committee thereof, acting by a majority vote of a quorum consisting of disinterested directors; (ii) by independent legal counsel, if there is not a quorum of disinterested directors or if the disinterested quorum empowers counsel to make the determination; or (iii) by the shareholders.

A corporate agent is entitled to mandatory indemnification to the extent that the agent is successful on the merits or otherwise in any proceeding, or in defense of any claim, issue or matter in the proceeding. If a corporation fails or refuses to indemnify a corporate agent, whether the indemnification is permissive or mandatory, the agent may apply to a court to grant him the requested indemnification. In advance of the final disposition of a proceeding, the corporation may pay an agent’s expenses if the agent agrees to repay the expenses unless it is ultimately determined he is entitled to indemnification.

Exculpation. Article VII of the Company’s certificate of incorporation provides:

A director or officer of the Corporation shall not be personally liable to the Corporation or its shareholders for damages for breach of any duty owed to the Corporation or its shareholders, except that this provision shall not relieve a director or officer from liability for any breach of duty based upon an act or omission (i) in breach of such person’s duty of loyalty to the Corporation or its shareholders, (ii) not in good faith or involving a knowing violation of law, or (iii) resulting in receipt by such person of an improper personal benefit. If the New Jersey Business Corporation Act is amended after approval by the shareholders of this provision to authorize corporate action further eliminating or limiting the personal liability of directors or officers, then the liability of a director and/or officer of the Corporation shall be eliminated or limited to the fullest extent permitted by the New Jersey Business Corporation Act as so amended.

Any repeal or modification of the foregoing paragraph by the shareholders of the Corporation or otherwise shall not adversely affect any right or protection of a director or officer of the Corporation existing at the time of such repeal or modification.

The New Jersey Business Corporation Act, as it affects exculpation, has not been changed since the adoption of this provision by the Company in 1987.