FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:
Lauren T. Barnett, President and CEO
Tel: (518)842-7200
Fax: (518)842-7500
Harold A. Baylor, Vice President, CFO, & Treasurer
Tel: (518)842-7200
Fax: (518)842-1688


      Ambanc Holding Co., Inc. Announces Regular Quarterly Cash Dividend

  
     Amsterdam, N.Y., September 3, 1998 - Lauren T. Barnett, President and Chief
Executive  Officer of Ambanc Holding Co., Inc. (NASDAQ - AHCI),  today announced
that the Company's board of directors, at their meeting held on August 28, 1998,
declared a regular  quarterly  cash  dividend of 6 cents per common  share.  The
dividend  will be paid on September 15, 1998,  to  shareholders  of record as of
September 1, 1998.

     Ambanc Holding Co., Inc. is a unitary savings and loan holding company. The
company's primary  subsidiary,  Amsterdam Savings Bank, F.S.B.,  operates twelve
(12)  full-service  banking offices in Montgomery (4), Saratoga (4), Fulton (1),
Schenectady  (1), and Albany (2)  Counties in the Capital  Region of upstate New
York.
                            

     
                                    - END -