BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Monroe Bancorp (NASDAQ:MROE) announced today that its Board of Directors recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.13 per share on the Company's Common Stock. The dividend is payable December 31, 2004 to shareholders of record on December 16, 2004. This remains unchanged from the previous quarter, and is unchanged from the dividend paid on December 31, 2003. Annually, the 2004 total dividend of $0.52 per share is up 6.1% from the annual dividend paid during 2003.

“This marks the sixteenth consecutive year of increased dividends for our shareholders,” said Mark D. Bradford, President and Chief Executive Officer. “We believe our history of increasing our annual dividend demonstrates Monroe Bancorp’s Board and management focus on our shareholders’ interests.”

Monroe Bancorp is an independently owned bank-holding company headquartered in Bloomington, Indiana, with assets over $600 million and with Monroe Bank as its wholly owned subsidiary. Established in 1892, Monroe Bank offers a full range of financial, trust and investment services through banking centers located in Monroe, Lawrence, Jackson and Hendricks counties in Indiana. The Bank serves more than 20,000 retail and commercial customers. Monroe Bancorp stock is traded on the NASDAQ National Market System under the ticker symbol MROE. Monroe Bancorp common stock closed at $16.99 on Monday, November 22, which is $2.74 or 19.2% above its closing price on December 31, 2003.