Sovereign Bank Announces New President and CEO

BOSTON, Dec. 14, 2010 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The executive committee of the Board of Directors of Banco Santander has agreed to propose Jorge Moran be named Chief Executive of Sovereign Bank and Country Head of Santander businesses in the United States.

Gabriel Jaramillo will be joining the United Nations Office of the Special Envoy for Malaria, with the objective to eliminate malaria deaths by 2015. During his 15 years with Santander, Gabriel Jaramillo has had a history of success as CEO in Brazil and now in the United States. Gabriel Jaramillo will continue as non-executive Chairman of the Board of Directors of Sovereign and Santander Holdings USA, Inc.

Jorge Moran is currently a Senior Executive Vice President of Banco Santander, head of its Global Insurance Division and a member of the Group's management committee. He joined the Santander Group in 2002 as Head of Asset Management. During 2005 and 2006, he was Chief Operating Officer of Abbey, Santander's business in the U.K., and from 2005 until 2008 a member of its Board of Directors.  

Before joining Santander, Jorge was Chief Executive Officer of Morgan Stanley for Spain and Portugal and a partner of AB Asesores, a brokerage and asset management company.

The changes reflect the successful completion of the first phase of integration of Sovereign into Grupo Santander and the goal of further strengthening Santander's U.S. businesses.

About Sovereign and Santander

Banco Santander (SAN.MC, STD.N, BNC.LN) is a retail and commercial bank, based in Spain, with presence in 10 main markets. Founded in 1857, Santander had EUR 1,365 billion in managed funds. Santander has more than 90 million customers, 13,671 branches -- more than any other international bank -- and 170,000 employees. It is the largest financial group in Spain and Latin America, with leading positions in the United Kingdom and Portugal and a broad presence in Europe through its Santander Consumer Finance arm. In the first half of 2010, Santander registered 4,445 million euro in net attributable profit. For more information on Santander, visit http://www.santander.com.

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 700 branches, over 2,300 ATMs and approximately 8,000 team members.  For more information on Sovereign Bank, visit http://www.sovereignbank.com or call 877-SOV-BANK.

SOURCE Sovereign Bank