Exhibit 31.1
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Certification of Chief Executive Officer

I, Vernon W. Hill, II, Chief Executive Officer of Commerce Bancorp, Inc. certify
that:

1. I have reviewed this Form 10-K of Commerce Bancorp, Inc.;

2. Based on my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue statement of a
material fact or omit to state a material fact  necessary to make the statements
made, in light of the  circumstances  under which such statements were made, not
misleading with respect to the period covered by this report;

3.  Based  on my  knowledge,  the  financial  statements,  and  other  financial
information  included  in this annual  report,  fairly  present in all  material
respects the financial  condition,  results of operations  and cash flows of the
registrant as of, and for, the periods presented in this report;

4.  The  registrant's  other  certifying  officer  and  I  are  responsible  for
establishing and maintaining  disclosure  controls and procedures (as defined in
Exchange Act Rules 13a-15e and 15d-15e) for the registrant and have:

     a)  Designed  such  disclosure  controls  and  procedures,  or caused  such
     disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our supervision, to
     ensure that material information relating to the registrant,  including its
     consolidated  subsidiaries,  is made  known to us by  others  within  those
     entities,  particularly  during the period in which this  annual  report is
     being prepared;

     b) [Intentionally Omitted]

     c) Evaluated the effectiveness of the registrant's  disclosure controls and
     procedures  and  presented  in  this  report  our  conclusions   about  the
     effectiveness of the disclosure  controls and procedures,  as of the end of
     the period covered by this report based on such evaluation; and

     d) Disclosed in this report any change in the registrant's internal control
     over financial reporting that occurred during the registrant's most recent
     fiscal quarter (the registrant's fourth fiscal quarter in the case of an
     annual report) that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to
     materially affect, the registrant's internal control over financial
     reporting; and;

5. The registrant's other certifying officer and I have disclosed,  based on our
most recent  evaluation of internal  control over  financial  reporting,  to the
registrant's  auditors  and the audit  committee  of the  registrant's  board of
directors (or persons performing the equivalent functions):

     a) All significant  deficiencies  and material  weaknesses in the design or
     operation of internal control over financial reporting which are reasonably
     likely to adversely  affect the  registrant's  ability to record,  process,
     summarize and report financial information; and

     b) Any fraud,  whether or not material,  that involves  management or other
     employees who have a significant role in the registrant's  internal control
     over financial reporting.



        /s/  Vernon W. Hill, II                           Date:  March 12, 2004
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        Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer
        (principal executive officer)


                             [END OF CERTIFICATION]