Sovereign Bank Collecting Funds to Aid Victims of Hurricane Katrina; Bank Will Match up to $50,000 in Donations for the Red Cross

Sovereign Bank Collecting Funds to Aid Victims of Hurricane Katrina; Bank Will Match up to $50,000 in Donations for the Red Cross

WYOMISSING, Pa., Aug. 31 /PRNewswire/ -- Sovereign Bank announced today that it is accepting monetary donations for the American Red Cross to aid victims of Hurricane Katrina and other recent hurricanes. In addition, Sovereign Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jay S. Sidhu said the bank will match up to $50,000 in total donations.

"It will take months, if not years, for people to recover from the destruction that Hurricane Katrina has wreaked," Sidhu said. "Our efforts are intended to help the victims of this hurricane and others that struck earlier this year so that all of those impacted can begin pulling their lives back together."

Cash and check donations are tax deductible and are being accepted at all Sovereign Community Banking Offices throughout the bank's Mid-Atlantic and New England regions. Checks should be made payable to American Red Cross Hurricane Relief Fund.

Checks can also be sent to local Community Banking Offices and to the following P.O. Box:

American Red Cross Hurricane Relief Fund P.O. Box 847495 Boston, Mass. 02284-7495

Donations will be accepted up until Sept. 30.

Information on how to pledge can also be found at Sovereign Bank's Web site at http://www.sovereignbank.com/.

In New England, Sovereign Bank and the American Red Cross are partnering with Official TV Partner, CBS4-Boston. CBS4 will provide a comprehensive schedule of public service announcements to drive donations, and CBS4 News will report regular updates to New England viewers on the hurricane relief efforts and how viewers can get involved. Information on how to pledge as well as the latest updates will also be available at http://www.cbs4boston.com/. CBS4's New England sister stations, Viacom-owned UPN 38-Boston and UPN 28-Providence, will also support the initiative by airing station-specific public service announcements.

About Sovereign Bank

Sovereign Bancorp, Inc., ("Sovereign") (NYSE:SOV), 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.

Source: Sovereign Bank

CONTACT: Media Contact: Edward Shultz, Sovereign Bank, +1-610-378-6159, Cell: +1-610-207-8753, Eshultz1@sovereignbank.com

Web site: http://www.cbs4boston.com/

Web site: http://www.sovereignbank.com/

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