OceanFirst Bank Closure Draws Concern From Berkeley Officials

BERKELEY, NJ — The OceanFirst Bank in Berkeley is among the nine branches along the Jersey Shore scheduled to close in December as the bank shifts its focus toward digital banking.

OceanFirst’s branch at 791 Rt. 9 in Berkeley will close on Dec. 3. In-person services will continue at OceanFirst’s locations on Route 37 West, Route 70 near Lake Ridge, Forked River and Whiting.

Branches in Barnegat, Point Pleasant, Freehold, Red Bank, Spring Lake, Tinton Falls and West Long Branch were also included in the recent wave of closures.

“During the pandemic, more and more of our customers chose digital banking as their preferred way of accessing their accounts. As a result, our customers are using our branches less so we will be consolidating several locations in December 2021 and January 2022,” said George Destafney, president of OceanFirst Bank’s central region.

OceanFirst's decision to close the Berkeley branch drew concern from Mayor Carmen Amato. The council introduced an ordinance opposing the closure last week over concern for the township's senior citizen population.

“OceanFirst is touting their state of the art technology and that’s all well and good, but don’t forget Berkeley Township is predominantly a community that has residents 65 older and retired,” Amato said.

“It’s going to become a big disservice to our seniors and residents that they won’t have an opportunity to do their banking at a local branch. They have to drive to another town to do their banking.”

Ahead of the closures, Destafney said OceanFirst is investing in branches that will continue to offer in-person banking.

In addition to in-person branch banking, its Toms River branch on Hooper Avenue offers expanded access to accounts via virtual teller from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays.

"Our customers appreciate the extended hours available with our live video teller services and we spend extra time helping them understand how to use the video teller machines," Destafney said. “Ocean County has always been home to OceanFirst and we are in the final stages of building a new 80,000 square foot building to expand our headquarters on Hooper Avenue in Toms River."

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