Sterling Bank Completes Common Stock Offering

Sterling Bank Completes Common Stock Offering 


MOUNT LAUREL, N.J., May 10  /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Sterling Bank
(NASDAQ:STNJ) announced today that it has completed its public offering of
1,250,000 shares of its common stock at a price of $9.75 per share.  Janney
Montgomery Scott LLC was the managing underwriter.  The common stock trades on
the Nasdaq SmallCap Market under the symbol "STNJ."

The net proceeds from the offering, totaling approximately $11.1 million, will
be added to the Bank's regulatory capital and will be used for expansion,
including branch expansion, and general corporate purposes including, but not
limited to, increased commercial and consumer lending and investment in
securities.  The Bank has granted to the underwriters a 30-day option to
purchase up to 187,500 additional shares of common stock to cover over-
allotments, if any.

"We are quite pleased to have completed a second public offering of our common
stock in less than two years.  We are also pleased with the enhanced level of
capital now available to support our continued expansion," commented Robert H.
King, President and Chief Executive Officer.

Sterling Bank is a community bank headquartered in Burlington County, New
Jersey, with assets of $310 million as of March 31, 2005.  Sterling Bank's main
office is located in Mount Laurel, New Jersey and its five other Community
Banking Centers are located in Burlington and Camden Counties in New Jersey. 
Additionally, Sterling Bank has announced a seventh retail branch to be located
in Voorhees Township, Camden County, New Jersey, which is planned for opening
in the third quarter of 2005, subject to receipt of appropriate regulatory
approvals.  Sterling Bank began operations in December 1990 with the purpose of
serving consumers and small to medium-sized businesses in its market area.  The
Bank's deposits are insured to the applicable regulatory limits per depositor
by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.  Sterling Bank is a member of the
Federal Reserve System.

This release may contain forward-looking statements.  We caution that such
statements may be 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.  Readers should carefully review the risk
factors described in the Bank's Offering Circular dated May 4, 2005, for the
Bank's public offering of Common Stock and in other documents the Bank files
from time to time with the Federal Reserve, including the Bank's Annual Report
on Form 10-KSB for the year ended December 31, 2004, Quarterly Reports on Form
10-QSB, and Current Reports on Form 8-K.  Sterling Bank assumes no obligation
to update any forward-looking information contained in this release or
elsewhere, except as required under applicable law. 

DATASOURCE: Sterling Bank



CONTACT:  Robert H. King, President, [phone],

, or R. Scott Horner, Executive Vice President,

[phone], , both of Sterling Bank



Web site:  http://www.sterlingnj.com/ 

Copyright