CHERRY HILL, NJ-Commerce Bank's expansion plans for 2005 include adding between 55 and 75 new branches and the institution's retail entry into three new markets. The company also plans to add up to 1,800 jobs, both at the new branches and in support operations.

The three new markets include the metro Washington, DC area, where Commerce expects to open between 10 and 15 branches this year. It's the first phase of what company officials expect to be a 200-branch operation in the region extending from Northern Virginia to Baltimore.

The second new market is Connecticut, which is slated to get many of the 25 to 30 branches targeted for the New York City region, not including New Jersey. For the longer term, Commerce expects to have a total of more than 400 branches in New York and Connecticut, with about a quarter of those in New York City's boroughs.

Commerce also plans to make its entry into Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley region with 10-15 branches. Finally, the bank expects to continue to grow on its home turf in New Jersey, where up to 15 new branches are in the works. All of the anticipated 55 to 75 new outlets will offer the bank's standard seven-day-a-week banking.

"Commerce is a growth retailer, and our move into these new markets is an extension of the momentum we have achieved throughout our footprint," says Vernon W. Hill, Commerce Bank's founder and chairman. Commerce launched its accelerated expansion effort in 1998, when it had a string of 97 branches, mostly in Central and Southern New Jersey. Since then the institution has more than tripled its reach, with a count of 319 branches at the end of 2004.