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June 16, 2003                              Kearny Financial Corp.
                                           John N. Hopkins
                                           President and Chief Executive Officer
                                           (201) 991-4100

                                           West Essex Bancorp, Inc.
                                           Craig L. Montanaro
                                           Senior Vice President
                                           (973) 226-7911


IMMEDIATE RELEASE
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                   KEARNY FINANCIAL CORP. RECEIVES REGULATORY
          APPROVAL OF MERGER APPLICATION WITH WEST ESSEX BANCORP, INC.

         June 16, 2003: Kearny Financial Corp., Kearny, New Jersey, and West
Essex Bancorp, Inc., Caldwell, New Jersey (Nasdaq National Market - "WEBK")
announced that Kearny Financial Corp. and its subsidiary bank, Kearny Federal
Savings Bank, have received approval from the Office of Thrift Supervision of
the merger application of Kearny Federal Savings Bank and West Essex Bank, the
wholly owned subsidiary of West Essex Bancorp. Kearny Financial Corp. is waiting
to receive additional required regulatory approvals in connection with its
acquisition of West Essex Bank and at this time expects to close its merger with
West Essex Bancorp on or about July 1, 2003.

         John N. Hopkins, President and Chief Executive Officer of Kearny
Financial Corp., stated, "The acquisition of West Essex Bank will be a positive
addition to Kearny Federal. Like West Essex Bank, Kearny Federal is a
community-oriented local financial institution, and we look forward to serving
West Essex's customers with expanded services, facilities and locations."

         Following the merger, Kearny will have approximately $1.9 billion in
assets and $1.6 billion in deposits and will operate 25 banking offices in
Hudson, Bergen, Passaic, Morris, Essex, Middlesex, Ocean and Union Counties, New
Jersey.

         In accordance with the terms of the merger agreement, West Essex
Bancorp's stockholders will receive $35.10 per share in cash for each share of
West Essex Bancorp common stock they own. Instructions on how to exchange their
shares for the merger consideration will be mailed to the West Essex Bancorp
stockholders shortly after the closing.

         This news release contains certain forward-looking statements about the
proposed merger of Kearny and West Essex. These statements include statements
regarding the anticipated closing date of the transaction and anticipated future
results. Forward-looking statements can be identified by the fact that they do
not relate strictly to historical or current facts. They often include words
like "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "estimate," and "intend" or future or

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conditional verbs such as "will," "would," "should," "could" or "may." Certain
factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from expected
include delays in completing the merger, difficulties in achieving cost savings
from the merger or in achieving such cost savings within the expected time
frame, difficulties in integrating Kearny and West Essex, increased competitive
pressures, changes in the interest rate environment, changes in general economic
conditions, legislative and regulatory changes that adversely affect the
business in which Kearny and West Essex are engaged, and changes in the
securities markets.