Sovereign Expands Automotive Lending Team to Southwest U.S.

WYOMISSING, Pa., May 1, 2006 -- Sovereign Bank announced today that it is expanding its automotive lending services to the Southwestern region of the United States. Edward Grass and Jeffrey Turnbow have joined the bank's Automotive Lending Group to provide commercial loan services and retail loan financing to new-car franchised dealers in the Southwest. Grass and Turnbow will be based in Phoenix, Arizona.

"The significant industry experience and proven results that Ed and Jeff bring will enable Sovereign to successfully expand our automotive lending business into the Southwest U.S. market," said Thomas W. Nadeau, division president and CEO of Sovereign's Automotive and Aviation Division. "We welcome these talented professionals and look forward to their contributions."

Grass, who will serve as market director, will manage a team of financial lending experts. He comes to Sovereign from Chase Auto Finance, where he was Southwest division manager. Grass has 19 years of auto dealer and commercial middle market lending experience with JP Morgan Chase Bank and its heritage organizations, Bank One N.A. and Valley National Bank. In 2005, he was awarded the JP Morgan Chase Presidents' Club - Chairman's Circle Award for Outstanding Sales Achievement.

Turnbow, appointed as a relationship manager, will be responsible for managing customer portfolios as well as for acquiring new business for the unit. He was most recently a relationship manager with Chase Auto Finance. He has 30 years of commercial banking experience covering the Western U.S. market at JP Morgan Chase Bank and Wells Fargo Bank.

Sovereign's Automotive Lending Group offers a range of custom vehicle financing and lease programs for automobiles, high-line used vehicles, commercial vehicles, and specialty vehicles. Specialized programs include fleet leasing, custom billing, collection and reporting services, real estate lending, floor plan credit facilities and other commercial services, along with retail indirect contract financing programs. With over 50 years of commitment to the vehicle lease funding business, Sovereign's Automotive Lending specialists are expert at developing customized solutions to help auto dealers leverage their working and fixed assets to meet vehicle financing initiatives.

For more information about Sovereign's Automotive Lending Group, visit Sovereign's Web site at http://www.sovereignbank.com/business/credit/vehicle_leasing.asp.

About Sovereign

Sovereign Bancorp, Inc. ("Sovereign") , is the parent company of Sovereign Bank, a pro forma $83 billion financial institution with nearly 800 community banking offices, over 2,000 ATMs and approximately 12,000 team members with principal markets in the Northeast United States after giving effect to the Independence acquisition and recently announced branding agreement in which Sovereign ATMs will be placed in CVS/pharmacy locations. Sovereign offers a broad array of financial services and products including retail banking, business and corporate banking, cash management, capital markets, wealth management and insurance. Sovereign is the 18th largest banking institution in the United States. For more information on Sovereign Bank, visit http://www.sovereignbank.com/ or call 1-877-SOV-BANK.

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