Commerce Bank Donates $1 Million to Create Banking Professorship at Drexel's LeBow College of Business.

Business Editors/Education Writers

CHERRY HILL, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 10, 2003

Commerce Bancorp (NYSE:CBH) and Drexel University announced today that Commerce Bank will donate $1 million to fund the school's first endowed professorship of banking.

The new Commerce Bank Endowed Professorship of Banking at Drexel's LeBow College of Business will be one of only two among area colleges. The endowment will support the research, teaching and other work of a professor who is a banking industry expert focused on groundbreaking ideas concerning financial services.

"Commerce Bank's generous donation reaffirms the importance of banking philanthropy. Drexel University owes its existence to the most successful banker of the 19th century, Anthony J. Drexel," said Drexel President Dr. Constantine Papadakis. "The Commerce Bank Endowed Professorship of Banking will enable our university to attract a distinguished scholar to mentor and inspire our students."

The announcement of the endowment also marks the launch of the search for the faculty member who will hold the Commerce Bank Endowed Professorship in Banking. The future Endowed Professor will focus on cutting-edge research on retail banking strategies and tactics, contribute academic and professional research to the field of banking and serve as a thought leader for industry professionals.

"Commerce Bank, like Drexel, is dedicated to teaching and training future business leaders and giving them the tools they need to succeed in the real world," said Commerce Bank Chairman and President Vernon W. Hill. "This endowment underscores our commitment to education and the banking industry and demonstrates our confidence in the university's leadership."

Commerce Bank opened for business nearly 30 years ago with a focused commitment to providing quality banking services through every available delivery channel. Since then, the Bank has developed a unique and very successful retail model, which has produced dynamic growth.

Although many banks in recent years, both locally and nationwide, opted to abandon branch banking and force customers to use remote delivery channels, Commerce never backed away from its commitment to opening new branches. Commerce has expanded from its original base in Marlton, N.J., to 225 offices throughout New Jersey, Pennsylvania, metro New York and northern Delaware. In 2002 alone, Commerce opened 40 branches.

"It is only fitting that a maverick bank like Commerce Bank and an innovative business school like LeBow College would join together to create a professorship that signals the new era of banking education," said Dr. George Tsetsekos, Dean of LeBow College. "Drexel and Commerce are united in their vision for this professorship - committed to the advancement of the field of banking and dedicated to the real-world education of future business leaders."

Drexel is America's premier all-wireless university, renowned for technology-based, experiential learning. The University enrolls 16,000 students in eight colleges and three schools, including the College of Medicine, the nation's largest private school of medicine.

The University was the first to require all students to have microcomputers and the first to operate a fully wireless campus. Yahoo! Internet Life ranked Drexel first nationally in wireless access in 2001. The University's co-operative education program is one of the oldest and largest in the country. Drexel can be found on the World Wide Web at www.drexel.edu.

Headquartered in Cherry Hill, N.J., Commerce is one of the nation's fastest-growing financial services retailers with more than $16 billion in assets and a rapidly expanding network of more than 225 branches. Commerce is maintaining an aggressive expansion pace, working toward a total asset goal of $60 billion and a branch network of 515 offices by the year 2007.

The bank plans on adding 45 to 50 new locations throughout New York, New Jersey, eastern Pennsylvania and Delaware during 2003. For more information about Commerce, please visit the company's interactive financial resource center at www.commerceonline.com.