Provident Bank Establishes Business Banking Team in Westchester County

MONTEBELLO, NY--(Marketwire - May 8, 2012) - Provident Bank, a subsidiary of Provident New York Bancorp (NYSE: PBNY), announced it hired Robert J. Torra to lead the newly established Business Banking team in Westchester County. Robert joins the firm as Senior Managing Director, Business Banking and will be responsible for leading the team to build and cultivate business banking relationships. Business banking clients typically have between $500 thousand and $5 million in annual sales.

Provident Bank entered Westchester County in 2007 and has focused its business on the commercial banking segment. "We saw a significant gap in the banking service available to the commercial client that Provident Bank is particularly suited to serve," said Carl Capuano, Senior Vice President, Commercial and Business Banking Market Leader. "Now that we have been in this market for several years, we are prepared to provide this same level of service to business banking clients. Robert was the perfect choice to lead this effort."

Mr. Torra has over 20 years in banking and most recently served as Vice President, Director of Professional Banking for Fairfield County Bank where he was responsible for creating and implementing the Professional Banking Platform which was structured to meet the unique needs of attorneys, physicians, and CPAs. Prior to Fairfield County Bank, Robert served Citigroup for 10 years as Group Vice President and Area Manager for Commercial Banking.

"Westchester County is an important growth market for us and we are pleased to have Robert Torra join us to lead our Business Banking team," said Jim Peoples, Central Market President for Provident Bank.

Headquartered in Montebello, N.Y., Provident Bank, with $3.2 billion in assets, specializes in the delivery of service and solutions to business owners, their families, and consumers in communities within the greater New York City marketplace through teams of dedicated and experienced relationship managers. Our franchise includes 36 Financial Centers. Provident Bank offers a complete line of commercial, business, and consumer banking products and services. For more information, visit the Provident Bank Web site at www.providentbanking.com.

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