Report: Parent Troubles Shouldn’t Affect Sovereign Bank

POTTSTOWN PA – Consumers who rely on checking and savings accounts and other products from Sovereign Bank – which operates two branch offices in Pottstown, and one each in Boyertown and Douglassville – have little to fear from recent stories in the financial press about the future of its Spanish corporate parent, Santander, Berks Community Television (BCTV) reported last Thursday (June 14, 2012).

Santander Banco, of Madrid, bought Sovereign Bank in January 2009 for $1.6 billion. Santander has been in the news as an economic crisis worsens among countries that use the Euro, BCTV said. Financial troubles in Spain led credit-rating agency Moody’s Investor Services on May 17 to downgrade Santander’s creditworthiness, along with 15 other Spanish banks, the report added.

Should Sovereign customers and employees worry over the news?, the online television station asked rhetorically. Probably not, according to the experts its story cited.

It referred at a June 4 article in the (Toronto) Globe And Mail newspaper that said “in the case of Santander’s business model, its subsidiaries are fairly independent in terms of funding.” It also quoted Sovereign Chief Marketing Office Kathy Klingler as saying her company “is among the strongest capitalized U.S. banks. Our strong capitalization supports our continuous growth plan.”

On the other hand, “it is impossible to know with any certainty what will occur in Spain and how that will impact Santander’s strategies,” the story quoted Paul Lountzis, founder of Lountzis Asset Management in Wyomissing, as saying.

• Read a story by reporter Steve Reinbrecht, titled “Sovereign Bank has little exposure to troubles at Spanish parent company” and published Thursday by BCTV, here.

Photo from Sovereign Bank via CNN