NEW YORK, Sept. 6 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Sovereign Bank has received top ranking in an annual survey of retail banks in Manhattan by the investment banking firm Sandler O'Neill + Partners.
The survey report, "Grading the Manhattan Banks," issued today by Mark Fitzgibbon, Director of Research at Sandler O'Neill, ranked Sovereign highest among 12 retail banks doing business in Manhattan.
"As analysts, we spend a large portion of the year meeting with senior bank managers trying to get a sense of what is driving their businesses," Fitzgibbon said in the Industry Notes report conducted annually in August. "Over the years we have found this to be a good way of identifying disconnects between what is said in the executive suite and what is actually going on in the trenches. Since Manhattan is the largest banking market in the world ... we have used Manhattan as a microcosm for the industry."
"We are delighted to receive this recognition," said Terence J. Mitchell, Community Banking President of Sovereign's Metro New York-New Jersey Division. Sovereign's Manhattan network was part of Independence Community Bank, which Sovereign acquired in 2006. "This top ranking is a tribute to the highly successful integration of our two banks and the hard work of our Sovereign team members," Mitchell added.
"With nearly 100 offices in New York City, we built our Manhattan presence from a single branch in 2003 to a network of 15 community banking offices in the heart of the city. We seek to provide a superior experience with each customer interaction," he added.
About Sovereign
Sovereign Bancorp, Inc., ("Sovereign") , is the parent company of Sovereign Bank, a financial institution with $82 billion in assets as of June 30, 2007 with principal markets in the Northeast United States. Sovereign Bank has nearly 750 community banking offices, over 2,250 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. 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
Sovereign Bank is a registered trademark of Sovereign Bank or its affiliates or subsidiaries in the United States and other countries.
