Santander launches its retail banking brand in the U.S.

• Chairman Emilio Botín launched the change of brand from Sovereign Bank to Santander in a ceremony at Herald Square in New York with Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
• The 718 branches in the Santander network in the U.S. northeast are being rebranded as Santander, as the bank launches the television advertising campaign “a bank for your ideas”.    

New York, Oct. 17, 2013 – Banco Santander’s Chairman Emilio Botín launched the rebranding of Sovereign Bank, N.A., as Santander in a sign-changing ceremony at Herald Square in New York, where he was accompanied by Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Emilio Botín, chairman of the Santander Group, said: “There is no better way to express our confidence in the U.S. and our commitment to our customers and the employees here.”

Santander also announced a planned three-year, USD 200 million investment in a series of enhancements for customers. The improvements will include office refurbishment, new automatic tellers, new products and channels, including the redesigned www.santanderbank.com website and further applications for mobile banking.

Roman Blanco, president and CEO of Santander US, said: “With the full strength and resources of the Santander Group behind us, we are now in an even better position to deepen our relationships with the customers, communities and companies we serve.”

Mr. Blanco added that, in the coming weeks, Santander will launch a retail banking product aimed at attracting new customers, while enhancing the Bank’s offer to its existing clients.

The mayor of New York, Michael Bloomberg, and the chairman of Banco Santander, Emilio Botin, watch the symbolic change of “Sovereign” to the “Santander” brand at the bank’s branch in Herald Square.

While in New York, Emilio Botín also confirmed Santander’s commitment, through Santander Universities, to invest USD 100 million over five years in higher education in the U.S. Santander Universities has cooperation agreements with 27 universities in the country. The latest investment will support research and teaching programs as well as international student and faculty exchanges.

Santander US operates in Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island, serving 1.7 million retail and commercial clients through 718 branches. It has been a financially autonomous subsidiary of the Santander Group since January, 2009. While the Santander Group has had business operations in the United States for over 30 years, this change marks the first time it will operate as a federally-chartered U.S. retail and commercial bank under the Santander brand.

Since becoming part of the Santander Group, Sovereign has relocated its corporate headquarters to Boston, substantially strengthened its capital, improved its asset quality, migrated multiple legacy systems to a single robust technology platform and become a fully-fledged commercial bank by changing to a national bank charter.

Santander US is a fully-owned subsidiary of Banco Santander, SA, of Spain, through its Santander Holdings USA (SHUSA) unit. SHUSA also owns a 65% stake in Dallas, Texas-based auto lender Santander Consumer USA and 100% of Santander Bancorp. of Puerto Rico.

Enhancements to accompany the name change
The bank has rolled out several enhancements as part of a three-year, USD 200-million investment plan to accompany its name change. These include:

• Network-wide refurbishment of the bank’s branches, including improved space to facilitate personalized, one-on-one banking.
• The rollout of enhanced ATMs across its footprint, to increase convenience and functionality for customers.
• A new, more streamlined website design, which includes industry best practices in fee disclosure and improves transparency and ease-of-use for consumers.
• A comprehensive new package of financial products and services, designed to meet a wide range of business and consumer financial needs.
• A substantial national and local print, broadcast and online advertising campaign across the bank’s markets, designed to familiarize clients with the breadth and strength of the Santander brand.

About Santander:

Banco Santander (SAN.MC, STD.N, BNC.LN) is a retail and commercial bank, based in Spain, with a presence in 10 main markets. Santander is the largest bank in the euro zone by market capitalization. Founded in 1857, Santander had EUR 1.342 trillion in managed funds, 102 million customers, 14,680 branches – more than any other international bank – and 186,785 employees at the close of June 2013. It is the largest financial group in Spain and Latin America. It also has significant positions in the United Kingdom, Portugal, Germany, Poland and the northeast United States. In the first half of 2013, Santander made EUR 2.26 billion in attributable profit, an increase of 29% from the same period of the previous year.

Santander US  is one of the top 25 retail banks in the United States by deposits, with a presence in Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island. Santander’s 9,218 employees serve the financial goals of American consumers and businesses through its 718 branches and 2,099 ATMs. Headquartered in Boston, Santander is supervised by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and is FDIC insured. Santander in the United States is a wholly-owned, financially autonomous subsidiary of the Santander Group. For more information about Santander in the United States, visit www.santanderbank.comor call 877-768-2265.