Exhibit 99.2

       CAMPANELLI NAMED PERMANENT PRESIDENT AND CEO; EHLERMAN ELECTED NON
                         EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN OF SOVEREIGN

PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 16 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Sovereign Bancorp, Inc.
("Sovereign") (NYSE: SOV), parent company of Sovereign Bank ("Bank"), announced
today that its Board of Directors unanimously approved Joseph P. Campanelli as
permanent President and Chief Executive Officer of both Sovereign and Sovereign
Bank and also appointed Campanelli as a director of both Sovereign and the
Bank's Board of Directors.

Sovereign also elected P. Michael Ehlerman non executive Chairman of the Board
of Sovereign and the Bank.

Campanelli has been an executive team member of Sovereign since 1997 and he
previously served as Sovereign's Vice Chairman and as Chief Executive Officer of
Sovereign Bank's New England division. Campanelli joined Sovereign Bank in 1997
as president and chief operating officer of Sovereign Bank New England. He
played an active role in the acquisition and integration of the FleetBoston
divested business units, the largest branch divestiture in the history of the
United States. Prior to joining Sovereign, Campanelli spent nearly 20 years
serving in a variety of executive positions with both Fleet and Shawmut Bank. He
began his banking career in Hartford, Connecticut in 1979.

Ehlerman, Chairman of Yuasa Battery, Inc. in Laureldale, PA., was
elected to the Sovereign Bancorp's Board of Directors in September 2002
and has served as a member of the Sovereign Bank Board of Directors
since 2001. He has served as Chairman of Yuasa since 2000 and as
Chairman and CEO from October 2000 until October 2003.

About Sovereign

Sovereign Bancorp, Inc., ("Sovereign") (NYSE: SOV), the parent company of
Sovereign Bank, is a $90 billion financial institution with nearly 800 community
banking offices, over 2,000 ATMs and approximately 12,000 team members with
principal markets in the Northeast United States. 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. Sovereign is the 18th largest banking institution in the United
States. For more information on Sovereign Bank, visit www.sovereignbank.com  or
call 1-877-SOV-BANK

SOURCE  Sovereign Bancorp, Inc.
    -0-                             01/16/2007
    /CONTACT:  FINANCIAL: Mark McCollom, +1-610-208-6426,
mmccollo@sovereignbank.com, or Stacey Weikel, +1-610-208-6112,
sweikel@sovereignbank.com; or MEDIA: Ed Shultz, +1-610-378-6159,
eshultz1@sovereignbank.com, all for Sovereign Bancorp, Inc./
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    /Web site:  http://www.sovereignbank.com /
    (SOV)