Valley National Bancorp
1455 Valley Road
Wayne, NJ  07470
Contact:
Alan D. Eskow
Senior Vice President and Controller
(973) 305-4003


           VALLEY NATIONAL BANCORP'S BOARD OF DIRECTORS AUTHORIZES THE
                      REPURCHASE OF UP TO 3,000,000 SHARES

Wayne, NJ, December 14, 1999 - Valley National Bancorp (NYSE:VLY) announced that
its Board of Directors  has  authorized  the company to purchase up to 3,000,000
shares of the company's  outstanding  common  stock.  Purchases may be made from
time to time in the open  market  or in  privately  negotiated  transactions  at
prices not exceeding  prevailing market rates. Valley currently has 60.4 million
common shares  outstanding.  Reacquired  shares will be held in treasury and are
expected to be used for employee  benefit  programs,  stock  dividends and other
corporate purposes.