Sovereign Cancels Earnings Call

Due to Banco Santander's announcement on October 13, 2008 that it will acquire Sovereign Bancorp, Inc. and to Sovereign's pre-earnings press release issued on October 13, 2008, Sovereign will not be holding its regular quarterly earnings conference call and webcast, originally scheduled for October 22, 2008.

Sovereign at Lehman Brothers

Sovereign Bancorp, Inc. ("Sovereign") (NYSE:SOV) , parent company of Sovereign Bank ("Bank"), today announced participation in the upcoming Lehman Brothers Financial Services Conference, to be held at the Hilton New York in New York City from Monday, September 8 through Wednesday, September 10, 2008. Joseph Campanelli, President and CEO of Sovereign, Kirk Walters, Sovereign's Chief Financial Officer, and M. Robert Rose, Sovereign's Chief Risk Management Officer, are scheduled to present on Tuesday, September 9, 2008 at 4:45 p.m. ET.