SNL Financial Provides Additional Data on NFB's $6.3 Billion Bid for GPT

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA. — SNL Financial has released a new table of the fifty largest U.S. banks, reflecting North Fork Bancorp.'s (NFB) announcement today that it will acquire GreenPoint Financial Corp. (GPT) for a reported $6.3 billion.

SNL Financial's Senior Analyst for Thrifts, Robert Clark, believes this acquisition could be the culmination of North Fork's roll-up strategy in the New York metro market. "With Trust Company of New Jersey still in process, this is not the first time NFB has had more than one deal in the works at the same time," noted Clark, referring to the August 1999 transactions of JSB Financial and Reliance Bancorp.

John McCune, SNL's Financial Institutions Group Research Manager, identifies GPT's "Alt A" lending business segment, which comprises originating and selling non-conforming mortgages in the secondary market, as a niche market in which few others in the New York metro area are willing to participate.

Both McCune and Clark question whether NFB will keep this piece of the business or look to unload it in the near future. Questions also remain regarding branch overlap and closures, and associated integration issues, despite reassuring comments made during the recent investor conference call.

Based on the annual summary of deposits filing with the FDIC, North Fork has grown from #12 in 1998 in the nine-county New York market where NFB and GPT both do business to #5 in 2003, surpassing GPT, which filed at #6. The combined company's deposit ranking in this market will be #4, behind J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., Citigroup and Bank of New York, moving just ahead of HSBC.

Please see the attached documents for additional deal-related analysis and data, including comparable deal metrics for recent deals of similar size, comprehensive deposit market share data, a branch marketshare map, and a complete table of the fifty largest U.S. banks, or contact John McCune, FIG Research Manager, at 434-951-7599 or email John McCune.

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