Approval of proposal by Banco Santander

The following press release was published by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System on Dec. 10, 2008. It is reproduced in full below.

The Federal Reserve Board on Wednesday announced its approval of the proposal by Banco Santander, S.A., Madrid, Spain, to acquire all the voting shares of Sovereign Bancorp, Inc., Philadelphia, and thereby indirectly acquire its subsidiary federal savings bank, Sovereign Bank, Wyomissing, both of Pennsylvania. Attached is the Board's Order relating to this action.

Source: Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System