WAYNE—Valley National Bancorp, the holding company of Valley National Bank, announced that the certificates of merger have been filed with the states of New York and New Jersey relating to its merger with State Bancorp Inc. The merger was effective January 1, 2012.

Valley will issue approximately 17 million shares of common stock in the transaction. The shareholders of State Bancorp will receive a fixed one-for-one exchange ratio for Valley common stock.

"Our expansion into the Long Island market should provide many additional lending, retail, and wealth management service opportunities," Valley President & CEO Gerald H. Lipkin said in a statement.

In conjunction with the merger, Jeffrey S. Wilks was appointed to the board of directors for both Valley and Valley National Bank. Wilks is a principal and executive vice president of Spiegel Associates, a private real estate ownership and development company, and is a former associate director of Sandler O'Neill, an investment bank specializing in the banking industry. Wilks served as a director of State Bancorp since 2001.

State Bank of Long Island, State Bancorp's subsidiary commercial bank with 16 branches located in Nassau, Suffolk, Queens and Manhattan, was merged into Valley National Bank. Full systems integration is expected to be completed during the first quarter of 2012.