Exhibit 99.1

[ICON] Sovereign Bancorp, Inc.                      NEWS RELEASE

  Corporate Headquarters:  1500 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
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DATE:  August 20, 2003

FINANCIAL CONTACTS:
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Jim Hogan      610-320-8496     jhogan@sovereignbank.com
Mark McCollom  610-208-6246     mmccollo@sovereignbank.com
Stacey Weikel  610-208-2112     sweikel@sovereignbank.com

MEDIA CONTACT:
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Ed Shultz      610-371-3201     eschultz@sovereignbank.com
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            Sovereign Bank Announces Debt Issue

PHILADELPHIA, PA... Sovereign Bank ("Bank"), a subsidiary of
Sovereign Bancorp, Inc. ("Sovereign") (NYSE: SOV), announced
today an issuance of $300 million of Bank subordinated notes.
The notes will have a coupon of 4.375% and will mature as of
August 1, 2013.  The Bank may redeem the notes, in whole or
part, on or after August 1, 2008, at a redemption price equal to
the principal amount of the notes being redeemed plus accrued
interest.  The Bank intends to use the net proceeds of the
offering for general corporate and banking purposes.

James D. Hogan, Chief Financial Officer of Sovereign, said, "We
are very pleased with the execution of this transaction.  The
offering provides additional supplementary capital at both the
Bank and Sovereign Bancorp."

The joint lead managers for the transaction were Goldman,
Sachs & Co. and Lehman Brothers Inc.

Sovereign Bancorp, Inc. ("Sovereign") headquartered in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is the parent company of Sovereign
Bank, a $41 billion financial institution with approximately 525
community banking offices, over 1,000 ATMs and about 8,000 team
members in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New

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Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island.  Sovereign is
among the 25 largest banking institutions in the United States.
For more information on Sovereign Bank, visit
www.sovereignbank.com or call 1-877-SOV-BANK.

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Note:

This press release contains statements of Sovereign's
strategies, plans, and objectives, as well as estimates of
future operating results for 2003 and beyond for Sovereign
Bancorp, Inc. as well as estimates of financial condition,
operating efficiencies and revenue generation.  These statements
and estimates constitute forward-looking statements (within the
meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995), which involve significant risks and uncertainties.
Actual results may differ materially from the results discussed
in these forward-looking statements.  Factors that might cause
such a difference include, but are not limited to, general
economic conditions, changes in interest rates, deposit flows,
loan demand, real estate values, competition, terrorist attacks,
armed conflicts involving the U.S. Military; changes in
accounting principles, policies, or guidelines; changes in
legislation or regulation; and other economic, competitive,
governmental, regulatory, and technological factors affecting
the Company's operations, pricing, products and services.
Operating earnings may differ from net income due to items such
as merger-related charges, balance sheet restructuring charges,
and certain other non-recurring items.

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