Joint Venture

Banco Santander Central Hispano SA
20 March 2000

BANCO SANTANDER CENTRAL HISPANO, A.T. KEARNEY AND EDS CO-NEXT CREATE JOINT
VENTURE FOR B2B

* The agreement is the first 'digital consortium' created under the Bank's B2B  
 strategy
* The new global company will begin operations in Spain, Portugal and Latin     
 America and projects turnover of 1.2 billion euros within two years 
* The company will be seeking a stock market listing next year


Madrid, March 20,2000 - Banco Santander Central Hispano and A.T. Kearney have
announced the creation of a new company whose function will be to create digital
markets for B2B (Business to Business).

The company, which will begin operations in June, will start as a 'digital
consortium', or Leveraged Sourcing Network (LSN), offering e-procurement
services.  This is a tried and tested area which is already managing 25 billion
euros of business in the United States.

This initiative will focus initially on Europe - fundamentally on Spain and
Portugal as well as on Latin America.

B2B moved approximately 120 billion euros in the United States last year and is
considered the strongest growth segment for Internet business in the coming
years.

With the creation of this e-business company, Banco Santander Central Hispano
has taken a new important step in its global Internet and telecommunications
strategy.