American Bancorp of New Jersey, Inc. Announces Application Made to OTS for Stock Repurchases

American Bancorp of New Jersey, Inc. (NASDAQ: ABNJ)
("American") announced today the filing of an application for approval
by the Office of Thrift Supervision ("OTS") to commence a 5% open
market stock repurchase program. OTS regulations require American to
receive approval from the OTS before making stock repurchases during
the first year following its second-step conversion, other than
repurchases to fund a stock benefit plan. No assurance can be given
that American will receive OTS approval of its repurchase application.
   American completed its second-step conversion on October 5, 2005.
In the conversion, 9,918,750 new shares were sold at $10.00 per share
and 4,250,719 exchange shares were issued to the public stockholders
of the former middle-tier stock holding company, resulting in a total
of 14,169,469 shares outstanding. American's common stock began
trading on the NASDAQ National Market on October 6, 2005.
   Separately, American intends to commence the repurchase of up to
208,293 shares to fund stock awards previously made under the American
Bank of New Jersey 2005 Restricted Stock Plan, which was voted on by
stockholders at the 2005 annual meeting. Purchases to fund the
restricted stock plan will be made from time to time in the open
market, based on stock availability, price and American's financial
performance.
   American Bancorp of New Jersey, Inc. is the holding company for
American Bank of New Jersey, a federally chartered stock savings bank
which conducts business from its main office in Bloomfield, New Jersey
and one branch office in Cedar Grove, New Jersey.

   The foregoing material contains forward-looking statements
concerning our financial condition, results of operations and
business. We caution that such statements are subject to a number of
uncertainties and actual results could differ materially, and,
therefore, readers should not place undue reliance on any
forward-looking statements. We do not undertake, and specifically
disclaim, any obligation to publicly release the results of any
revisions that may be made to any forward-looking statements to
reflect the occurrence of anticipated or unanticipated events or
circumstances after the date of such statements.