Sovereign Bank and P&H Solutions Team Up to Change the Face of Business Banking

P&H Solutions, the leader in providing business banking solutions to financial institutions throughout North America, and Sovereign Bank (NYSE:SOV), with over $60 billion in assets and operations in seven states throughout the Northeast, announced today they have teamed up to provide the most innovative business banking system in the industry. From a single business banking platform, Sovereign business customers of all sizes - from single person companies to multi-national corporations - will soon be able to access a wide variety of banking products and services on a 24X7 basis. This single platform approach represents a radical departure from the multi-system business banking options at most institutions.

"Having a single platform upon which to deliver our industry-leading banking products and services gives us a distinct advantage in attracting and retaining business banking customers," said Marshall Soura, Executive Vice President and Managing Director of the Global Solutions Group, Sovereign Bank. "Most banks offer small businesses only slightly enhanced versions of their consumer home banking products. With the P&H platform, Sovereign will be able to provide all business customers with a full range of sophisticated financial services and tools with a consistent and intuitive user interface."

"Sovereign Bank and P&H have partnered to provide a wide range of internet banking services to all of Sovereign's business banking customers through our Outsource Solution Center," said Ralph Dangelmaier, President of P&H Solutions. "We are delighted that Sovereign has embraced our Enterprise Business Banking Platform approach as the backbone of their business banking operations. This is clearly the wave of the future. We look forward to a long and prosperous relationship with Sovereign, helping them provide exemplary customer service to hundreds of thousands of business customers."

About P&H Web Cash Manager Suite

The P&H Web Cash Manager Suite is the industry-leading web-based business banking system, and can be deployed through an in-house environment or by using the P&H Outsource Solution Center. It allows financial institutions of all sizes to uniquely package products and services for different markets, or even individual customers, from a single flexible platform. Financial institutions can choose from over 90 different modules designed for the smallest SOHO client up through the largest corporate client. The P&H Web Cash Manager Suite also provides an infrastructure for integrating other products and services offered by financial institutions.

About P&H Solutions

Since its founding in 1983, P&H Solutions has continually focused on the needs of financial institutions and their customers, with a strong commitment to helping financial institutions meet their strategic business banking objectives by delivering the most robust application suite in the industry. With over 150 financial institutions in production with its Web Cash Manager Suite, P&H Solutions is the market leader in adding demonstrative value to the business banking relationship. Leading industry analyst firms have consistently ranked P&H Solutions as the number one cash management vendor and in the top three providers of small business solutions.

P&H customers include AmSouth, Bank of Hawaii, Citibank, City National Bank, J.P. Morgan Chase, Merrill Lynch, Old National, PNC, Sovereign Bank, and Wells Fargo, as well as hundreds of credit unions, community banks, savings banks, and regional financial institutions. P&H Solutions is headquartered in Newton, Massachusetts, with offices in many other states. Additional information can be found at www.ph.com or by calling 617-796-7700.

P&H and P&H Web Cash Manager Suite are trademarks of P&H Solutions, Inc.

What are people saying about mortgages today:

Rates on 30-year mortgages edged down last week to a seven-month low. Mortgage-giant Freddie Mac reported Thursday that 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages fell to 6.3 percent, down slightly from 6.31 percent two weeks ago. It put rates at the lowest level since they were at 6.24 percent the first week of March.

Bank of Hawaii, Central Pacific Bank, Territorial Savings Bank and Wells Fargo Home Mortgages all cut their 30-year mortgage rates to 5.75 percent this week.

Most people think of a mortgage as a means to an end. After all, you buy a house, not a home loan. But a mortgage is much more than the path to homeownership. It is a financial instrument that must be managed, just like any other financial investment.