BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Monroe Bank, the subsidiary of the locally headquartered bank holding company Monroe Bancorp, (NASDAQ: MROE), broke ground in Brownsburg on Friday, July 8 at the site of their planned full-service banking facility. Construction is underway and marks the beginning of Monroe Bank’s transition from storefront locations in Avon, Plainfield and Brownsburg, to full-service centers complete with automated teller machines and drive-throughs.

It is anticipated that the Brownsburg banking center will be ready to open for business early next year. Currently, sites for the Avon and Plainfield banking centers are being finalized, and they are scheduled to open during the second half of 2006. “The growth in these three major nodes of development in Hendricks County has necessitated this step,” says President and Chief Executive Officer, Mark D. Bradford. “We know we will be successful here.”

One of the hallmarks of Monroe Bank’s success lies in its customer service philosophy and practice. A week doesn’t go by, says Bradford, that he doesn’t receive letters and emails from clients commenting on the excellent service provided by Monroe Bank employees, or stories of how his staff go above and beyond to help their customers. “We had an instance this winter where a customer called me to tell me how an employee helped her jump-start her car battery in freezing mid-winter weather. The customer was not on bank business but had happened to park outside the bank.”

Another factor that gives Monroe Bank the edge, contends Bradford, is the Bank’s ability to integrate itself with the communities it serves. Not only does the Bank have a sizeable separate budget to support community events and initiatives, but Bank staff volunteer thousands of hours to community organizations. “Central Indiana has its own budget line item for sponsorships and donations. In addition, we are just as particular in supporting businesses in the central Indiana region however we can,” adds Bradford.

At a recent shareholders meeting, Bradford described how he plans to move Monroe Bank to the billion dollar bank benchmark in the near future. Bradford also advised that Monroe Bancorp, the holding company for Monroe Bank, is about to announce its performance for the past quarter. “I am very pleased with the growth of our second quarter and year-to-date earnings,” he said.

Another factor that will lend success to Monroe Bank in Central Indiana is its local leadership. Leading the Central Indiana region is John E. Christy, who took up the position of President – Central Indiana Region two years ago. This position was created in recognition of the importance that the Central Indiana region plays to the future of the Company. In the position, Christy holds the responsibility of attaining all of the Company’s Central Indiana strategic objectives. “With his demonstrated skills in uniting his teams to exceed aggressive corporate goals, John Christy is a strong leader for our business development efforts in our expanded territory”, says Bradford. “He will also be a powerful force in ensuring that our Central Indiana employees are unified under the same goals of strong customer service and community support that have made Monroe Bank successful in our home markets for over 110 years.”

One of Christy’s goals was to build strong experienced specialist teams in all locations, including the Carmel office. One such team is the commercial lending team, which specializes in both commercial and industrial and commercial real estate.

The commercial and industrial lending side is led by long-time resident of Hendricks County, Mike McNeely. McNeely (Vice President, Commercial Lender) is a 20-year veteran of the banking industry and has held business banking and commercial lending positions with several well-known national banks (National City Bank, Provident Bank, Bank One and INB National Bank). Working with McNeely are Kevin Hodel (Vice President, Commercial Lender) and James Parcell (Vice President, Commercial Lender). Formerly with Bank One, Hodel has 15 years of business and commercial banking experience, while Parcell has over 25 years of commercial lending experience, and was most recently vice president and department manager for Centra Credit Union. McNeely and Parcell are based in Avon and Hodel in Carmel. This team is responsible for assisting commercial and industrial businesses with their financial needs relating to inventory, receivables, equipment refinancing, and working capital.

Leading the commercial real estate team is David Misner (Vice President, Commercial Lender). Equipped with an MBA degree and 10 years of banking and commercial real estate experience, Misner joined Monroe Bank in 2003. Also part of this team are James A. Buell (Vice President, Commercial Lender) and Marc McCoy (Vice President, Commercial Lender). Buell is a banking and lending professional with over 20 years of experience in the financial and real estate industry. McCoy is a recent addition and has 15 years of banking and lending experience. This team is responsible for providing lending services to residential builders and commercial real estate developers in the Indianapolis Metro area.

Working closely with the commercial lenders, mortgage team, wealth management, and banking center personnel, is Central Indiana’s business development manager, Anissa Goen, who was formerly with City Securities Corporation in Indianapolis.

Currently there are 244 employees at Monroe Bank, with 22 based in the Central Indiana region. It is anticipated that between 20 to 25 more employees will be added to this number as the new banking centers in Brownsburg, Avon and Plainfield become operational.

Comments Christy, “When we looked closely at the demographics of the region, we knew Monroe Bank would be a good fit. Hendricks County shows positive growth. It’s demographics - size of community, household incomes, number of households with college degrees, for example – fit our goals. We know we can provide a quality experience to Hendricks County residents and businesses that they will enjoy and come to expect. We are able to offer across-the-board financial products and services while retaining traditional community bank benefits. Between them, our officers and employees offer high levels of expertise and years of experience.” While the Bank’s focus is on the greater Indianapolis market, Christy indicates that Hendricks County is their base. From the retail side, or banking center perspective, he says, Monroe Bank chose a community where they could be anchored and be effective. While the Bank offers all services at the locations in Avon, Plainfield and Brownsburg, these will expand once the full-service banking centers open over the course of 2006. Christy invites residents of Central Indiana to consider Monroe Bank, not only to fulfill their needs for commercial and consumer loans, mortgages and money market accounts, but to take advantage of their wealth management services. For decades, Monroe Bank has managed customers’ investment portfolios and advised them on retirement plans, estate planning and trusts. “More and more people are realizing that they can take advantage of a comprehensive and competitive plate of financial services and expertise offered by Monroe Bank,” he adds.

About John E. Christy, President of the Central Indiana Region
A native of Kansas City, Missouri, and a graduate of the University of Missouri where he received a bachelor of science in business administration, John E. Christy has 20 years of banking experience in key management positions in the commercial banking industry. Among them, he served as Senior Vice President for Key Bank in Indianapolis, where he was the Middle Market Commercial Division team sales leader for Central Indiana. He returns to Indiana after a three-year hiatus, which he spent in Tampa, Florida as a Senior Vice President of Southtrust Bank. In that capacity, he was the regional manager in charge of the West Florida Middle Market Division. Mr. Christy also gained experience in Columbus, Ohio as an Area Bank President for Star Bank, where he was responsible for all of that region’s business development activities, including retail banking, private banking and commercial real estate lending.

About Monroe Bank
Monroe Bank was established in 1892 in Bloomington, Indiana and is the wholly owned subsidiary of Monroe Bancorp, and Indiana bank holding company headquartered in Bloomington. Its first Central Indiana branch opened in September of 2001. Monroe Bank offers a full range of financial, trust and investment services to its more than 22,000 retail and commercial customers through offices in Monroe, Jackson, Lawrence and Hendricks counties. The Company's common stock is traded on the NASDAQ“ National Stock Market under the symbol MROE.

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Media Note:
For more information, contact:
John Christy, President of the Central Indiana Region, Monroe Bank
(317) 272-7822, christyj@monroebank.com