[5] In 2000, Sovereign bought 278 New England branches from the newly merged FleetBoston Financial, becoming the third-largest retail bank in the Boston area.

[10] Sovereign bought the naming rights to Mercer County's new arena in 1999 in support of newly acquired Trenton Savings Bank (formerly TSFS) and other New Jersey branches for a ten-year term.

As Banco Santander owned 25% of Sovereign, it had the right to buy the bank for $40 per share for one year beginning in the middle of 2008.

[14] Sovereign Bank was severely affected by losses related to auto loans and stock in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

[15] Banco Santander had previously seen a loss of over $1 billion on its investment in Sovereign, when the latter's share price tumbled after being downgraded by Moody's in September 2008.

[17] In August 2011, the bank announced its plans to formally relocate its U.S. headquarters from Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, to Boston, where its top executives had already been located for several years.

[18] In late September 2011, the bank announced that it would officially change its name to "Santander" as part of its parent company's goal to create a global brand.

[22] In May 2024, Santander Bank notified its customers of unauthorized access to Snowflake, a third-party database system.