PHILADELPHIA, June 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Sovereign Bancorp, Inc. ("Sovereign") , parent company of Sovereign Bank, announced today that it has received credit rating upgrades from Moody's Investor Services ("Moody's"), Standard & Poor's Rating Service ("S&P") and Fitch Ratings ("Fitch") following the equity offering to Banco Santander Central Hispano, S.A. ("Santander") of Madrid, Spain and acquisition of Independence Community Bank Corp. ("Independence") of Brooklyn, New York.
Today, Moody's raised the senior unsecured ratings on Sovereign and its affiliates to Baa1 from Baa3, and the long-term deposit ratings on Sovereign Bank to A3 from Baa1. Moody's noted that positive pressure on Sovereign's ratings could also result if Sovereign successfully integrates Independence resulting in improved profitability, grows its core deposit business compared to peers, and meaningfully reduces its newly increased concentration of commercial real estate as a percentage of tangible equity.
On June 2, 2006, S&P raised its counterparty credit rating on Sovereign one notch to 'BBB' and its ratings on Sovereign subsidiaries one notch as well. Sovereign Bank's long-term rating is now BBB+. The rating outlook is stable. S&P cited Sovereign's successful track record in managing its debt and capital positions following the Fleet transaction in 2000 and stated that their rating actions also considered the foothold the acquisition of Independence provides Sovereign in the highly desirable New York/New Jersey marketplace.
On June 1, 2006, Fitch upgraded the Support Ratings of Sovereign and Sovereign Bank to 3 from 4 and 5, respectively. All other ratings were affirmed. The rating outlook is stable. Fitch noted the basis for the upgrade was the probability of support by Santander for Sovereign and Sovereign Bank in the event of need under the source of strength doctrine.
Sovereign Bancorp, Inc., ("Sovereign") , is the parent company of Sovereign Bank, an $83 billion financial institution with nearly 800 community banking offices, over 2,000 ATMs after giving effect to the recently announced branding agreement in which Sovereign ATMs will be placed in CVS/pharmacy locations and approximately 12,000 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, 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.
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.
