BOSTON, April 30, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Santander Bank, N.A. today announced that it has
earned an upgraded Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) overall rating
of "Satisfactory" from the Office of the Comptroller of the
Currency (OCC) for the 2014 – 2016 CRA performance exam period,
including "High Satisfactory" ratings on all three CRA tests:
Lending, Investment and Service. This new rating makes it easier
for Santander to open additional branches within its eight-state
northeast footprint and will remove limitations on accepting public
deposits.
"When the communities in which we live and work prosper,
Santander prospers. We are proud of our achievements in serving and
investing in our communities and we are pleased with this rating,
which is more representative of our CRA commitment," said Santander
US CEO Scott Powell. "This is
another positive milestone for Santander this year and underscores
the effort we've made toward becoming the best bank in the
communities we serve."
The OCC's CRA performance evaluation notes the major factors
supporting Santander's improved rating included the Bank's good
responsiveness to assessment area credit needs, excellent mortgage
and small business lending by geography, a positive level of
community development lending, good levels of community development
investments and grants and excellent levels of volunteerism. In the
major metropolitan areas evaluated, the OCC gave Santander
region-specific CRA ratings, including an "Outstanding" rating in
Greater Providence, New
York/New Jersey and
Philadelphia.
"In the past few years we have substantially increased our loans
and investments in community development programs for low- and
moderate-income individuals and communities and we are committed to
being an industry leader in this area," said Duke Dayal, Santander
Bank's President and CEO. "We're continuing to work with
leading community groups across our footprint and have set
ambitious lending, community development and charitable giving
goals for the next several years. We look forward to the OCC's next
evaluation and are working hard to earn an even better rating in
our next exam."
In October 2017, Powell announced
Santander's Inclusive Communities Plan, the Bank's $11 billion, five-year commitment to its
communities for 2017 through 2021, during which time Santander
plans to increase its CRA activity by 50 percent and triple its
charitable grants.
Over the next five years, Santander has set of goal of
$9.1 billion in lending to
underserved communities, including $1.9
billion in community development investments, $55 million in charitable contributions, 10 new
retail branches in low- to moderate-income and communities of color
and 60,000 community development volunteer hours in underserved
communities.
The Bank's 2017 Inclusive Communities Plan results will be
released later this spring. The initial results indicate that the
Bank significantly exceeded its planned $1.8
billion community lending and investment goals by:
- Investing approximately $2.4
billion in community development loans and investments,
including almost $1.3 billion in
mortgage loans.
- Hiring eight new community development professionals to improve
engagement with our communities.
- Opening two new branches in low- and moderate-income
communities and one lending center in a community of color in our
footprint.
- Devoting almost 15,000 team member volunteer hours to financial
education programs.
Santander Bank,
N.A. is one of the country's largest retail and
commercial banks with $74.5 billion
in assets. With its corporate offices in Boston, the Bank's approximately 9,600
employees, over 600 branches, more than 2,000 ATMs and 2.1 million
customers are principally located in Massachusetts, New
Hampshire, Connecticut,
Rhode Island, New York, New
Jersey, Pennsylvania and
Delaware. The Bank is a
wholly-owned subsidiary of Madrid-based Banco Santander, S.A. (NYSE: SAN)
- one of the most respected banking groups in the world with more
than 125 million customers in the U.S., Europe, and Latin
America. It is managed by Santander Holdings USA, Inc., Banco Santander's intermediate
holding company in the U.S. For more information on Santander Bank, please visit
www.santanderbank.com.
Santander Holdings USA, Inc. (SHUSA) is a
wholly-owned subsidiary of Madrid-based Banco Santander, S.A.
(NYSE: SAN) (Santander), one of the most respected banking
groups in the world with more than 125 million customers in the
U.S., Europe and Latin America. As the intermediate
holding company for Santander's U.S. businesses, SHUSA includes six
financial companies with approximately 17,000 employees, 5.2
million customers and assets of over $128.2 billion. These
include Santander Bank, N.A., one of the country's largest
retail and commercial banks by deposits; Santander
Consumer USA Holdings Inc. (NYSE: SC), an auto finance
and consumer lending company; Banco Santander International
of Miami; Banco Santander Puerto Rico; Santander Securities
LLC of Boston; and Santander Investment Securities Inc.
of New York.
Media Contacts:
Ann Davis
617-757-5891
ann.davis@santander.us
Nancy Orlando
617-757-5765
nancy.orlando@santander.us
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SOURCE Santander Bank, N.A.