PHILADELPHIA, July 24 /EMWNews/ -- Sovereign Bancorp, Inc.

("Sovereign") (NYSE: SOV), parent company of Sovereign Bank, announced

today that on July 22, 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 August 15, 2008 to

holders of record on August 1, 2008 for the Sovereign Series C

Non-Cumulative Perpetual Preferred Stock (NYSE: SOVPRC). A dividend of

$0.484375 is payable on August 15, 2008 to holders of record on August 14,

2008 for the Sovereign Capital Trust V Securities (NYSE: SOVPRB).



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