Agreement with San Paolo

Banco Santander Central Hispano SA
12 July 2000

             SANTANDER CENTRAL HISPANO AND SANPAOLO-IMI SIGN
                   INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION AGREEMENT

Madrid, July 12, 2000 - Banco Santander Central Hispano and SanPaolo-IMI have
reached a cooperation agreement whereby each group will provide its respective
customers with new products and services in Italy and Latin America.

Through this agreement, especially tailored for small and medium sized
companies, customers of Banco Santander Central Hispano and SanPaolo-IMI will be
able to make use of the sales networks of each group in the respective areas
while the two partner banks will increase their customer base and market share
in transactions between Italy and Latin America.

The project envisages creating an Italian Desk in the Santander Central Hispano
group and a Latin American Desk in San Paolo-IMI.  These will study and put into
effect the most efficient mechanisms for promoting financial services in
Italy, Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Brazil, Uruguay, Venezuela, Colombia and
Bolivia.

Santander Central Hispano will thus be able to offer its customers privileged
access to the more than 2,000 offices of San Paolo-IMI in Italy.

The two banks have maintained close cooperation since 1995 involving significant
cross shareholdings.