MEDIA                                           INVESTORS
Contact: Wells Fargo          North County               Wells Fargo
         Kathleen Shilkret    James Gregg/Rodney Jones   Robert Strickland
         (213) 253-7198       (760) 743-2200             (612) 667-7919



                   WELLS FARGO, NORTH COUNTY BANCORP ANNOUNCE
                        DEFINITIVE ACQUISITION AGREEMENT



ESCONDIDO, CA, September 30, 1999 -- Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) and North
County Bancorp (NASDAQ: NCBH) said today they have signed a definitive agreement
for Wells Fargo to acquire North County Bancorp and its subsidiary North County
Bank. The acquisition will be the first for the new Wells Fargo in California
since the November 1998 merger of equals involving Norwest Corporation and the
former Wells Fargo & Company.

Headquartered in Escondido in northern San Diego County, North County Bank is an
independent commercial bank with $349 million in assets and more than 250
employees. The bank has nine full-service branches serving communities in San
Diego and Riverside counties including Escondido, Kearny Mesa in the city of San
Diego, Poway, and San Marcos in San Diego County and Banning, Beaumont, Murrieta
and Temecula in Riverside County. A top originator of Small Business
Administration (SBA) loans in its market area, North County also has a loan
production office in the Seattle, Washington area.

Under terms of the agreement, Wells Fargo will issue a total of $112 million of
its common stock for all the stock of North County Bancorp then outstanding.
Assuming all outstanding options to purchase North County stock are exercised
before the transaction closes, North County shareholders will receive
approximately $21 of Wells Fargo common stock


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for each North County share they own. The acquisition, scheduled to be
completed in first quarter 2000, requires the approval of regulators and
shareholders of North County Bancorp.

"North County Bank is one of the area's best-run local banks with commercial,
commercial real estate and small business loan portfolios that are great fits
with our own," said Colleen Anderson, Wells Fargo's regional president for
Southern California Community Banking. "As we do everywhere in the new Wells
Fargo, decisions about lending and community involvement will continue to be
made by our people who live and work in these great San Diego and Riverside
County communities."

"The explosive growth of our markets in recent years demonstrated to me that
these areas needed more services than a bank our size could provide," said James
Gregg, chairman and CEO of North County. He added: "The new Wells Fargo can
offer our customers an unparalleled range of financial products -- investments
to mortgages to insurance -- while still retaining the kind of service our
customers expect and deserve."

Rodney Jones, North County's president and COO, said, "We are flattered that the
new Wells Fargo thinks so highly of our bank. When merged, the combined
institution will be a powerhouse in our market areas especially for small
business and SBA lending."

Wells Fargo is California's oldest bank, the largest bank headquartered in
California and also operates the state's third largest mortgage originator.
Wells Fargo & Company is a $205 billion diversified financial services
company providing banking, insurance, investments, mortgage and consumer
finance services through almost 6,000 stores, the industry's leading Internet
bank (WWW.WELLSFARGO.COM) and other distribution channels across North
America and elsewhere internationally.


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