Sovereign Bank Team Members Volunteer With Red Cross to Help Disaster Victims

WYOMISSING, Pa., Sept. 28 /PRNewswire/ -- Sovereign Bank today announced that 10 team members will join the ranks of the American Red Cross as they work to bring relief to areas affected by Hurricane Katrina and other recent natural disasters. The Red Cross will train the volunteers and place them in various locations according to need. Sovereign will support the volunteers by continuing to provide their base pay for up to three weeks of service.

"Sovereign wanted to do more than just give money," said Cheryl Patnick, director of Sovereign Bank's Team Member Services. "We are amazed at the number of people who stepped forward to volunteer in just a short amount of time."

Eighty team members from locations throughout the company applied for the opportunity. The following were chosen randomly and will leave for training shortly:

Keri Bell, Sovereign Direct representative, East Providence, R.I. Deborah Blondin, relationship manager, Manchester, N.H. Pier-Luca Bruno - financial analyst, Boston, Mass. Kelly Copeland, Capital Markets sales officer, Philadelphia, Pa. Raven Klein - Consumer Lending loan servicing specialist, Reading, Pa. Bob McDonald, commercial loan portfolio manager, Manchester, N.H. Lisa Radosta, commercial operations team manager, Dorchester, Mass. Anthony Silvestri, consumer credit analyst, East Providence, R.I. Holly Veum, community banking sales assistant, Needham, Mass. Raun Wilson, personal banking representative, Harrisburg, Pa.

In addition to sending volunteers, Sovereign Bank is accepting monetary donations for the Red Cross to aid hurricane victims. Cash and check donations are being accepted at all Sovereign Community Banking Offices through Sept. 30. To date, Sovereign team members and customers have contributed more than $1.3 million. Information on how to pledge can also be found at Sovereign Bank's Web site at http://www.sovereignbank.com/.

As part of the relief fund effort, Sovereign donated $50,000 in matching funds and made a corporate gift of $50,000 in recognition of the generosity of Sovereign team members who donated to the fund. Sovereign previously announced it is offering a checking account for evacuees of Hurricane Katrina who have relocated to the Northeastern states. The new account is a non- interest bearing checking account that includes fee waivers and free checks.

About Sovereign

Sovereign Bancorp, Inc., ("Sovereign") , is the parent company of Sovereign Bank, a $60 billion financial institution headquartered in Wyomissing, Pa., with more than 650 community banking offices, over 1,000 ATMs and approximately 10,000 team members with principal markets in the Northeast United States. Sovereign offers a broad array of financial services and products including retail banking, business and corporate banking, cash management, capital markets, trust and wealth management and insurance. Sovereign is the 19th largest banking institution in the United States. For more information on Sovereign Bank, visit http://www.sovereignbank.com/ or call 1-877-SOV-BANK.