OceanFirst Bank N.A. is an American

regional bank A regional bank is a depository institution, such as a bank, savings and loan, or credit union, which is larger than a community bank and operates below the state level, but not so large that it would operate either nationally or internationall ...

subsidiary of the U.S. financial services holding company OceanFirst Financial Corp. founded and headquartered in

Ocean County, New Jersey Ocean County is a List of counties in New Jersey, county located in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the southernmost county in the New York metropolitan area. The county borders the Atlantic Ocean on the east and in terms of total area is the ...

, with operations throughout

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

, and in the major metropolitan markets of

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

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The company offers checking and savings accounts, online and mobile banking, residential mortgages, commercial financing, and treasury management.

History

When OceanFirst Bank opened its doors in 1902, it was founded as the Point Pleasant Building & Loan Association. In 1960, the name was changed to Ocean Federal Savings and Loan, establishing local operations until 1985 when business expansion took place into

Middlesex County, NJ Middlesex County is a county located in the north- central part of the U.S. state of New Jersey, extending inland from the Raritan Valley region to the northern portion of the Jersey Shore. As of the 2020 United States census, the county was ...

. OceanFirst completed its

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investm ...

(IPO) converting from mutual to stock ownership in 1996, which included establishing a holding company, OceanFirst Financial Corp. In 1999, the name was changed from Ocean Federal Savings & Loan Association to OceanFirst Bank. In 2018, the company completed the conversion of its charter from a federal savings bank to a national commercial bank, changing to OceanFirst Bank N.A.

Acquisitions

OceanFirst Financial Corp. enhanced its organic growth efforts with acquisitions beginning in 2015. Since then, it has completed deals to acquire 7 different financial institutions in

, and

. First was the acquisition of Colonial American Bank on July 31, 2015. Then, in January 2016, it agreed to buy Cape Bancorp, Inc. which was a bank with 22 branches and five loans offices, for $196 million. On November 30, 2016, OceanFirst Financial Corp. acquired, for $146 million, Ocean Shore Holding Co. including its subsidiary, Ocean City Home Bank, a community bank in Ocean City with 11 branches in Atlantic and Cape May counties. In 2018, it completed a $475 million acquisition of Sun Bancorp Inc., the holding company for Sun National Bank. In January 2019, it closed a $77 million acquisition deal of Capital Bank of New Jersey including four branches located in Cumberland, Gloucester, and Atlantic Counties. On January 1, 2020, OceanFirst Financial Corp. acquired Two River Bancorp and Country Bank Holding Company, Inc. in a transaction worth approximately $183 million and $102.2 million respectively. Two River Bancorp was a full-service community bank operating 14 branch locations and 2 loan production offices in

Monmouth Monmouth ( or ; ) is a market town and community (Wales), community in Monmouthshire, Wales, situated on where the River Monnow joins the River Wye, from the Wales–England border. The population in the 2011 census was 10,508, rising from 8 ...

Ocean The ocean is the body of salt water that covers approximately 70.8% of Earth. The ocean is conventionally divided into large bodies of water, which are also referred to as ''oceans'' (the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian Ocean, Indian, Southern Ocean ...

, Union and

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

Counties. Country Bank Holding Company Inc. provided banking services to small businesses and individuals through its network of 5 Country Bank branches located in the metropolitan New York market. In August 2024, OceanFirst acquired Garden State Home Loans, which will now operate as Garden State Home Loans, A Division of OceanFirst Bank. Garden State originates loans and is licensed to serve 14 states. Shortly after, OceanFirst acquired Spring Garden Capital Group, LLC. Spring Garden provides funding for affordable and workforce housing in the Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, and Washington D.C. areas.

Sponsorship

The first commercial naming rights for

Monmouth University Monmouth University is a private university in West Long Branch, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1933 as Monmouth Junior College, it became Monmouth College in 1956 and Monmouth University in 1995 after receiving its university charter, c ...

was announced in 2016. The name of the arena was changed from Multipurpose Activity Center to OceanFirst Bank Center following a multi-year naming rights sponsorship with OceanFirst.

OceanFirst Foundation

In 1996, the bank established an independent

charitable foundation A foundation (also referred to as a charitable foundation) is a type of nonprofit organization or charitable trust that usually provides funding and support to other charitable organizations through grants, while also potentially participating d ...

named OceanFederal Foundation in 1996. In 1999, it became OceanFirst Foundation. The Foundation empowers non profit organizations to think bigger, solve more problems, and make life better. Overall, more than 9,000 grants totaling over $49 million have been given out to over 1,200 organizations.

References

{{reflist

External links

Official website
Banks based in New Jersey Banks established in 1902 Toms River, New Jersey 1902 establishments in New Jersey