Carlos M. Garcia Appointed Chief Operating Officer And Senior Executive Vice President

Carlos M. Garcia Appointed Chief Operating Officer And Senior Executive Vice
President 


SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, Dec. 19  /PRNewswire/ -- Jose R. Gonzalez, President and
Chief Executive Officer of Santander BanCorp (SBP) and Banco Santander Puerto
Rico (BPSR) announced today, that effective January 1, 2004, Carlos M. Garcia
will become Chief Operating Officer (COO) and Senior Executive Vice President of
SBP and BSPR. As COO of SBP and BSPR, Mr. Garcia will be responsible for the
supervision and coordination of all the business areas of Santander BanCorp. 
The principal business areas of Santander BanCorp are: Retail Banking, Wholesale
Banking, Santander Mortgage Corporation, Santander Insurance Agency, Inc., and
upon its acquisition, Santander Securities Corporation and Santander Asset
Management Corporation. In addition to his new responsibilities, Mr. Garcia will
continue as President and Chief Executive Officer of Santander Securities
Corporation.

The acquisition of Santander Securities Corporation by Santander BanCorp is
expected to close on or before December 31, 2003 as all required regulatory
approvals have been received for the closing of this transaction.

Also, effective January 1, 2004 the Leasing and Agricultural business units will
be incorporated to our Retail Banking business under the direction of Mr. Rafael
F. Saldana, Executive Vice President in charge of Retail Banking; and
concurrently Mr. Roberto Cordova, Executive Vice President, will be in charge of
Wholesale Banking.

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 two
wholly owned subsidiaries, Banco Santander Puerto Rico and Santander Insurance
Agency. Banco Santander Puerto Rico has been operating in Puerto Rico for 26
years. It offers a full array of services in the areas of commercial, mortgage
and consumer banking supported by a team of over 1,500 employees, with 66
branches. 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/.

Banco Santander Central Hispano, S.A. (SAN.MC, STD.N) is the largest financial
group in Spain and Latin America by profits, and the second largest bank in the
Euro Zone by market capitalization. Founded in 1857, it has forged important
business initiatives in Europe, including a 15-year old alliance with The Royal
Bank of Scotland, ownership of the third largest banking group in Portugal and
the leading independent consumer finance franchise in Germany.

This press release contains forward-looking statements that are based on current
expectations, estimates, forecasts and projections about the industry in which
the Company operates, its beliefs and its management's assumptions. Words such
as "expects," "anticipates," "targets," "goals," "projects," "intends," "plans,"
"believes," "seeks," "estimates" and variations of such words and similar
expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements.  These
statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve certain risks,
uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict.  Therefore, actual
outcomes and results may differ materially from what is expressed or forecast in
such forward-looking statements. Factors that may cause actual results to differ
materially from such forward-looking statements include, among others, the
following: (1) general economic conditions are less favorable than expected; (2)
competitive pressures among financial services companies in Puerto Rico increase
significantly; (3) substantial changes in levels of market interest rates and
prices may adversely impact funding sources and the value of financial products
and assets; (4) legislation or regulatory changes adversely affect the
businesses in which the Company is engaged; and (5) litigation liabilities,
including costs, expenses, settlements and judgments, may adversely affect the
Company or its businesses.  Except as otherwise required under federal
securities laws and the rules and regulations of the SEC, the Company does not
have any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking
statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, changes in
assumptions or otherwise.

The pro forma information provided herein is not indicative of future results of
operations.

Santander Securities is the second largest full service securities broker-dealer
in Puerto Rico with approximately $5.7 billion in assets under management,
composed of over $3.6 billion in customer assets at the retail broker-dealer and
$2.1 billion in managed mutual fund gross assets and institutional accounts at
its wholly-owned subsidiary, Santander Asset Management Corporation.

Santander Securities is a registered broker-dealer and a member of the National
Association of Securities Dealers, Inc. and Securities Investors Protection
Corporation. 

DATASOURCE: Banco Santander Puerto Rico



CONTACT:  Juan Diaz Soultaire, [phone], Evelyn Vega,

[phone]



Web site:  http://www.santandernet.com/

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