Company News

June 23, 2009

Sovereign Bank today celebrated the grand opening of its newest branch at Radio City in Manhattan. Roy Lever, Sovereign's Managing Director of Retail Banking, Vince Ricciardi, Senior Market Retail Executive for Sovereign in the Metro New York-New Jersey Division, and Laura Capra, Sovereign’s Retail District Executive for Manhattan, joined community leaders and customers at a ribbon-cutting ceremony in the new branch. At the ceremony, Sovereign underscored its commitment to the local community by presenting a gift from the Sovereign Bank Foundation to a local nonprofit, Project Sunshine.

"We are thrilled to open our newest location at historic Radio City in the heart of Manhattan," said Lever. "This is a very important market for Sovereign Bank and we are excited to make this investment to provide area customers with even more access to banking services."

This is the first branch Sovereign has opened since it became part of Banco Santander on January 30, 2009. The acquisition made Sovereign part of one of the world’s largest financial institutions and gave Santander its first major banking presence in the United States.

The branch is located at 1290 Avenue of the Americas and is one of 16 Sovereign Bank branches in Manhattan. The 3,500 square foot branch is designated as a Business Banking Center which will be staffed by a full-time Business Banking Representative to serve the financial needs of area businesses. It features five teller stations and two ATMs and is supported by seven Sovereign team members including Branch Manager Marc San Giovanni.

The grand opening ceremony also included the presentation of a $2,500 check from the Sovereign Bank Foundation to Project Sunshine, a Manhattan-based nonprofit that provides free educational, recreational, and social programs to children facing medical challenges. Joe Weilgus, founder of Project Sunshine, accepted the check on behalf of the organization.

To celebrate the branch's grand opening, Sovereign will hold a week of events that will include raffle tickets to the Radio City Christmas Show, offers for Metro Cards for new accounts, and special rates on personal and business banking products. In addition during grand opening week, Sovereign street teams will hand out thousands of eco-shopping bags

About Sovereign
Sovereign Bank, a subsidiary of Banco Santander, S.A., is a financial institution with principal markets in the northeastern United States. Sovereign has more than 750 branches, over 2,300 ATMs and approximately 9,700 team members. Sovereign offers a broad array of financial services and products including retail banking, business and corporate banking, cash management and capital markets. Banco Santander, S.A. is an international financial services company based in Madrid, Spain, and is one of the five largest banks in the world by profit. For more information on Sovereign Bank, call 877-SOV-BANK. For additional information on Santander, visit http://www.santander.com.

Media Contacts
Ellen Molle
Office: 617-757-5573
Cell: 617-548-9932
emolle@sovereignbank.com

Kristen Kramer
Office: 610-378-6164
Cell: 610-401-1739
kkramer@sovereignbank.com