Seacoast Financial Services Corporation Receives Regulatory Approval to Acquire Home Port Bancorp, Inc.

Business/Technology Editors

NEW BEDFORD, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 18, 2000

Seacoast Financial Services Corporation (Nasdaq:SCFS) has received approval from the Federal Reserve Bank as well as the Massachusetts Board of Bank Incorporation, to acquire Home Port Bancorp, Inc. (Nasdaq:HPBC), Nantucket, MA, the holding company for Nantucket Bank. All required regulatory approvals have now been obtained.

The transaction was announced on July 21, 2000 and Home Port shareholders voted to approve the agreement on October 20, 2000. Home Port shareholders will receive $37 in cash for each share of HPBC common stock. Seacoast expects that the merger will be completed as of December 31, 2000. Seacoast's Exchange Agent, Registrar & Transfer Company, is expected to mail instructions regarding the exchange of stock certificates to Home Port registered shareholders on or about January 2, 2001.

As previously announced, Nantucket Bank will continue to operate as a separate subsidiary of Seacoast. The present Board of Directors and management of Nantucket Bank will continue to oversee the operations of the Bank. Nantucket Bank staff will remain in their current positions and there are no job eliminations expected as a result of the merger.

Seacoast Financial Services Corporation is the holding company for CompassBank, headquartered in New Bedford, Massachusetts. CompassBank is a $2.4 billion state-chartered savings bank serving Southeastern Massachusetts through a network of 38 full-service offices, 6 remote ATMs, a customer call center and on-line banking at www.compassbank.com. The Bank ranks as the second largest Massachusetts-based savings bank and the largest publicly owned savings bank in Massachusetts. The Bank provides a wide array of financial services including consumer banking, mortgage lending, commercial lending, consumer finance and alternative investments to retail and business customers.

The foregoing contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements are not historical facts and include expressions about management's confidence and strategies and management's expectations about new and existing programs and products, relationships, opportunities, technology and market conditions. Such forward-looking statements involve certain risks and uncertainties. These include, but are not limited to, the direction of movements in interest rates, the possibility of disruption in credit markets, the effects of economic conditions and the impact of legal and regulatory barriers and structures. Actual results may differ materially from such forward-looking statements. Seacoast Financial assumes no obligation for updating any such forward-looking statements at any time.