S&P Upgrades North Fork

North Fork Bancorporation, Inc. (NYSE: NFB) announced
today that S&P affirmed its ratings and revised its outlook to
Positive. An excerpt from the S&P release is as follows: "Standard &
Poor's Ratings Services said today that it affirmed its ratings on
Long Island, N.Y.- based North Fork Bancorp and its subsidiaries,
including its 'BBB+/A-2' counterparty credit rating on North Fork. At
the same time, the outlook was revised to positive from stable."
   The outlook revision acknowledged the smooth integration of the
October 2004 GreenPoint Financial acquisition, and positive momentum
for the company's core deposit and loan growth. "GreenPoint doubled
North Fork's asset base; strengthened its franchise with leading
deposit market shares in Suffolk, Nassau, and Queens counties; and
complemented its commercial-oriented focus," according to S&P. The
release noted the positive impact on geographic diversity that
GreenPoint's national mortgage banking subsidiary had on North Fork.
   The release also cited the company's continued strong asset
quality and the successful incorporation of GreenPoint's mortgage bank
into its consolidated corporate strategy. S&P concluded by identifying
the following factors which could lead to a rating upgrade: "If asset
quality and improved capital measures are maintained, and earnings
trends remain good, ratings could be raised."
   Complete ratings information is available to subscribers of
RatingsDirect, Standard & Poor's Web-based credit analysis system, at
www.ratingsdirect.com. All ratings affected by this rating action can
be found on Standard & Poor's public Web site at
www.standardandpoors.com.
   North Fork is a regional bank holding company headquartered in New
York with approximately $60 billion in assets conducting commercial
and retail banking from 360 branch locations in the Tri-State area
with a complementary national mortgage banking business.