Sovereign Declares Quarterly Dividends on Preferred Stock and Capital Trust

PHILADELPHIA, April 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Sovereign Bancorp, Inc. ("Sovereign") , parent company of Sovereign Bank, announced today that on April 21, 2008 its Board of Directors declared dividends on Sovereign's Preferred Stock and Capital Trust V Securities. A dividend payment of $0.45625 per depositary share is payable on May 15, 2008 to holders of record on May 1, 2008 for the Sovereign Series C Non-Cumulative Perpetual Preferred Stock . A dividend of $0.484375 is payable on May 15, 2008 to holders of record on May 14, 2008 for the Sovereign Capital Trust V Securities .

Sovereign Bancorp, Inc., ("Sovereign") , is the parent company of Sovereign Bank, a financial institution with principal markets in the Northeastern United States. Sovereign Bank has 750 community banking offices, over 2,300 ATMs and approximately 12,000 team members. 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. For more information on Sovereign Bank, visit < http://www.sovereignbank.com/ > or call 1-877-SOV-BANK.

Note: "Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Statements in this press release regarding Sovereign Bancorp's business which are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" that involve risks and uncertainties. For a discussion of such risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual future events to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, see "Forward-Looking Statements" in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the most recently ended fiscal year.