**Exhibit 31.1**

 

**CERTIFICATION**

**(Section 302of Sarbanes-Oxley)**

 

I,Jeffrey M. Watson, President and Chief Executive Officer of Manhattan Bancorp,certify that:

 

1.  I have reviewed thisquarterly report on Form 10-Q of Manhattan Bancorp;

 

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

 

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

 

4.The registrant’s othercertifying officer and I are responsible for establishing and maintainingdisclosure controls (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and15d-15(e)) internal controls over the financial reporting (as defined inExchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) for the registrant andhave:

 

a.designed suchdisclosure controls and procedures, or caused such disclosure controls andprocedures to be designed under our supervision, to ensure that materialinformation relating to the registrant is made known to us by others withinthat entity, particularly during the period in which this report is beingprepared;

 

b.designed such internalcontrol over financial reporting, or caused such internal control overfinancial reporting to be designed under our supervision, to provide reasonableassurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparationof financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generallyaccepted accounting principles;

 

c.evaluated theeffectiveness of the registrant’s disclosure controls and procedures andpresented in this report our conclusions about the effectiveness of thedisclosure controls and procedures, as of the end of the period covered by thisreport based upon our evaluation; and

 

d.disclosed in this report any changes in the registrant’s internal control that occurred during the registrant’s fourth fiscal quarter that has materially affected, or is reasonable likely to materially affect, the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting; and

 

5.The registrant’s othercertifying officer and I have disclosed, based on our most recent evaluation,to the registrant’s auditors and the audit committee of registrant’s board ofdirectors:

 

a.all significantdeficiencies and material weaknesses in the design or operation of internalcontrol over financial reporting which are reasonable likely to adverselyaffect the registrant’s ability to record, process, summarize and reportfinancial information; and

 

b.any fraud, whether or notmaterial, that involves management or other employees who have a significantrole in the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting.

 
| Date:  August 12, 2009 | /s/ Jeffrey M. Watson                  |
|-----------------------------|----------------------------------------|
|                        | Jeffrey  M. Watson                     |
|                        | President  and Chief Executive Officer |

 

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