Santander BanCorp Declares Common Shares Dividend for the Second Quarter SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, Aug. 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The Board of Directors of Santander BanCorp (NYSE: SBP; LATIBEX: XSBP), declared a cash dividend amounting to $0.11 per common share. The dividend shall be payable on October 1, 2004 to shareholders of record as of September 10, 2004. Cash dividends on common shares are eligible for direct reinvestment under the Company's Dividend Reinvestment and Cash Purchase Plan. For additional information on how to participate in Santander BanCorp's Dividend Reinvestment and Cash Purchase Plan, shareholders should contact our transfer agent and registrar, Mellon Investor Services LLC, at (800) 851-9677. Santander BanCorp is a publicly held financial holding company that is traded on the New York Stock Exchange and on Latibex (Madrid Stock Exchange). It has three wholly owned subsidiaries, Banco Santander Puerto Rico, Santander Securities Corporation and Santander Insurance Agency. Banco Santander Puerto Rico has been operating in Puerto Rico for 27 years. It offers a full array of services through 67 branches in the areas of commercial, mortgage and consumer banking, supported by a team of over 1,400 employees. Santander Securities offers securities brokerage services and provides portfolio management services through its wholly owned subsidiary Santander Asset Management Corporation. Santander Insurance Agency offers life, health and disability coverage as a corporate agent and also operates as a general agent. For more information, visit the Company's website at http://www.santandernet.com/. Grupo Santander (SAN.MC, STD.N) is the largest financial group in Spain and Latin America, and the second largest bank in the Euro Zone by market capitalization. Founded in 1857, it has forged important business initiatives, including a 15-year old alliance with The Royal Bank of Scotland, ownership of the third largest banking group in Portugal and a leading consumer finance franchise in Germany, Italy and seven other European countries. Grupo Santander maintains a leading position in Latin America, with 4,052 offices in ten countries, serving more than 12 million individual clients and approximately half a million small and medium sized companies, managing over euro $100 billion in business (on & off-balance sheet). In 2003, Santander recorded $1.49 billion in net attributable income in Latin America. DATASOURCE: Santander BanCorp CONTACT: Maria Calero, +1-787-751-6640, or Evelyn Vega, +1-787-777-4546, both of Santander BanCorp Web site: http://www.santandernet.com/

Copyright