700 Santander Branches Donate To Local Charities

BOSTON, Dec. 18, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Santander Bank, N.A., one of the largest retail banks in the United States by deposits, announced today that it will award $350,000 to local non-profit organizations through its "Ideas for Good" Campaign. Santander launched the charitable giving program in October as part of its rebranding campaign when it changed its name from Sovereign Bank to Santander.

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Through the "Ideas for Good" Campaign, customers voted for community non-profits at 700 branches throughout the Bank's Northeast footprint. Each branch will donate $500 to the local non-profit in its community that received the most customer votes.

"We created this program as a way to give back to the community and engage our customers in supporting their local neighborhoods," said David Miree, managing director of Santander's retail branch network. "We are delighted our customers participated in the program and are proud to donate $350,000 to hundreds of local organizations from New Hampshire to Maryland."

Santander is investing $200 million in its rebranding campaign over the next few years. In addition to the "Ideas for Good" Campaign, the Bank released a highly-rated mobile banking app that provides additional functionality for its online banking customers, introduced a new checking account called extra20checking that pays customers $20 every month just for banking as they usually do and refreshed all of its branches. In addition, it launched a new advertising campaign that includes television commercials featuring actor Robert De Niro.

"The Ideas for Good Campaign is a natural extension of our commitment to supporting the communities where our team members live and work," said Kathy Klingler, chief marketing officer at Santander. "We wanted to make a meaningful impact in the community when we introduced the Santander brand in the marketplace and know from our customers' responses that they appreciated the opportunity to participate in this campaign that will help so many deserving organizations."  

This additional support builds upon the Bank's support for communities in 2012, when it contributed more than $2 million in donations across the Bank's footprint to local non-profit organizations, more than $2 billion in loans and investments to low and moderate income individuals and businesses, and more than $8.5 million in grants to its university and college partners in the United States.

Please click here for a complete list of participating branches and the community non-profits receiving donations.

About Us

Santander Bank, N.A. is a top 25 retail bank 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 9,571 employees serve the financial goals of American consumers and businesses through its 706 branches and 2,084 ATMs. Headquartered in Boston, Santander is supervised by the Office of the Currency of the Comptroller and is FDIC insured under its legal name, Santander Bank, N.A. Santander in the United States is a wholly-owned, financially autonomous subsidiary of the Santander Group, a global commercial and retail bank. For more information about Santander in the United States, visit www.santanderbank.com or call 877-768-2265.

Santander (SAN.MC, STD.N, BNC.LN) is a retail and commercial banking group with a presence in ten 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 Latin America and has significant positions in the United Kingdom, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Poland and the northeast United States. Santander was recognized in 2012 as Best Global Bank by Euromoney, ranked as a top Greenest Global Bank in 2013 by Bloomberg BusinessWeek and was named 2013 Sustainable Global Bank of the Year by the Financial Times. Santander's attributable profit rose 29% from a year-earlier to EUR 2,255 million in through the first half of 2013. For more information about Santander, visit www.santanderusa.com.

SOURCE Santander Bank, N.A.