Sovereign, a unit of Spanish banking giant Banco Santander S.A. of Madrid, operates in the Northeast and Middle Atlantic regions and has about 8,500 employees, including nearly 2,700 in Massachusetts.
“The Boston area is a strong hub for the financial services industry and is made stronger by Sovereign making this its home,’’ Governor Deval Patrick said yesterday in a statement. “We look forward to further strengthening the business climate and supporting the talented workforce that attracts the leading financial firms to do business here.’’
The move is the latest in a series of steps by Santander to reorganize Sovereign since taking over the once-troubled bank two years ago during the financial crisis. Santander has poured money into the bank, revamped its operations, reduced its portfolio of troubled loans, and focused its operations on its core territory on the East Coast.
In May, Santander filed an application with regulators to convert its corporate charter from a thrift to a national bank, which would allow it to make more commercial loans and expand its US business. A Sovereign spokesman confirmed the headquarters move yesterday, but declined to comment further.
Sovereign becomes the largest retail bank based in Boston with nearly $77 billion in assets and 723 branches in nine states. Eastern Bank, a Massachusetts community bank with 95 branches and nearly $8 billion in assets, one-10th the size of Sovereign, has been the largest locally based bank since Bank of America took over FleetBoston.
As measured by deposits and branches, Sovereign is the third-largest retail bank operating in the state behind Bank of America, based in Charlotte, N.C., and Citizens Financial Group of Providence. Sovereign entered the New England market in 2000 after it acquired 278 surplus branches FleetBoston had to divest to meet federal antitrust laws following the 1999 merger of Fleet Financial Group and BankBoston Corp.
Relocating the headquarters essentially confirms the status quo: Sovereign’s top executives have been working from Boston in recent years, instead of the bank’s historic headquarters in Wyomissing, Pa., a town 60 miles northwest of Philadelphia.
