PHOTO RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 25, 2012

Provident Supports Students at North Jersey Spelling Bee Competition

The Provident Bank was recently a sponsor of the 75th Annual North Jersey Spelling Bee held at

Bergen Community College. At the final event, 32 students competed to represent northern New

Jersey in the National Spelling Bee.

Bryce Coughlin, Provident’s area manager for Bergen County, served as a judge and presented

the winner, Sanjana Mohan Malla, with a $1,000 check on behalf of the bank for travel

expenses to the National Spelling Bee. Sanjana is a sixth-grade student at Haverstraw Middle

School and advanced to the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington D.C., where she

made it all the way to the semifinals.

Pictured with the 32 student finalists at the 75th Annual North Jersey Spelling Bee are (center,

from left) Barney Gallassio of Medco and spelling bee pronouncer; Cynthia Forster of North

Jersey Media Group; and Bryce Coughlin of The Provident Bank.

Pictured with the first place winner are (from left) Margaret Karle Schak, 1935 North Jersey

Spelling Bee winner; first place winner Sanjana Mohan Malia from Haverstraw, NY; Bryce

Coughlin, area manager at The Provident Bank; and (back row) Mauro Castano, Carlo’s Bakery

in Hoboken, who presented a special cake for the student finalists.

Provident’s Bryce Coughlin (back row, center) poses with the student winners of the 75th Annual

North Jersey Spelling Bee: (from left) second place winner Riyad Moughawech of Bloomfield;

first place winner Sanjana Mohan Malia from Haverstraw, NY; and second place winner Kavi

Wick of Succasunna.

About The Provident Bank With $5.2 billion in deposits, The Provident Bank (www.ProvidentNJ.com) serves its customers

via a network of full-service branches throughout northern and central New Jersey. The

Provident Bank is the wholly owned subsidiary of Provident Financial Services, Inc.

(NYSE:PFS), which reported assets of $7.1 billion as of March 31, 2012.

###