Sovereign Bank Restructures Retail Business

BOSTON, April 13, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Sovereign Bank, part of the Santander Group, announced a new organizational structure that integrates retail and small business bank activity. Nuno Matos, Managing Director of Retail Banking, will now assume responsibility for all Retail bank businesses, segments and channels, including the branch network. This move centralizes oversight of all retail and small business product development, sales distribution and support under Nuno's leadership. Nuno Matos is a member of the Bank's Management Executive Committee, a member of the Board of Directors, and reports directly to Sovereign's President and CEO.

"These organizational changes reflect the importance of the Retail business and our goal of further strengthening Santander's presence in the United States," said Sovereign Bank President and CEO, Jorge Moran.

David Miree, a 20-year industry veteran, recently joined Sovereign Bank as Executive Vice President and Managing Director of the Retail Network, reporting to Nuno Matos. In his new role, David is responsible for all Retail distribution, including Sovereign's 721 branches, the bank's brokerage and investment division, and business banking. Since 2008, David has worked at Wells Fargo, most recently as EVP Regional President for Greater Pennsylvania. In this role, David had oversight of a network of branches and was responsible for building and developing partnerships between all business lines including wholesale and government banking, community banking, and mortgage and wealth divisions. Prior to Wells Fargo, David served in an executive leadership role with Capital One.  David is a graduate of Ohio University, originates from Cincinnati, Ohio and will be relocating to Boston from the Philadelphia area.

About Sovereign and Santander

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.

Banco Santander (SAN.MC, STD.N, BNC.LN) is a retail and commercial bank, headquartered in Spain. Founded in 1857, Santander has more than 92 million customers, approximately 14,000 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.  For more information on Santander, visit http://www.santander.com  

SOURCE Sovereign Bank