Feb 12 Reuters New York Community Bancorp shares jumped on Monday, extending gains from the previous session in response to top executives buying stake in the U.S. lender reeling with its exposure to the U.S office property market.

The bank has been looking to boost investor confidence to stem a share slide from Jan. 31 when it posted a surprise quarterly loss due to its loans tied to the stressed sector and slashed its dividend.

Shares surged on Friday after bank executives bought shares worth more than 870,000 combined. Among them was banking veteran and executive chairman Alessandro DiNello who had vowed to reduce the bank39;s loan exposure to the commercial real estate CRE.

DiNello appears firmly in control of the goforward strategy and we consider him as a credible executive with a proven track record of turning around a troubled bank and working with banking regulators, brokerage Bank of America Securities wrote in a note.

NYCB stock was last up 7 in early morning trading after closing 17 higher on Friday. Still, they are down 50 so far this year and have weighed on the banking sector.

Investors worry that the weak demand for offices could trigger a wave of loan defaults and hurt the balance sheets of banks.

TD Cowen analysts said the NYCB episode would trigger additional scrutiny of banks with significant loan concentrations.

We expect supervisors to use this window to push some banks with high loan concentration levels to diversify. It is consistent with…