Statement re Patagon.com
Banco Santander Central Hispano SA
23 March 2000
Patagon.com will be integrated with Open Bank to go beyond the pure Internet
banking concept
BANCO SANTANDER CENTRAL HISPANO CREATES
PATAGON.COM AS LEADING GLOBAL FINANCIAL WEBSITE
* The chairman of the new company will be Angel Corcostegui, First
Vice-Chairman and Managing Director of Santander Central Hispano, and
the managing director will be Wenceslao Casares.
* The company's world-wide operating brand will be Patagon.com
* Expansion plans in Europe include Germany, Italy, the UK, France and
Portugal in the short term
* The integration strengthens Group strategy by converting Patagon.com into a
global brand for personal finances
Madrid, March 22, 2000 - Banco Santander Central Hispano will integrate
Patagon.com, the leading Latin American financial internet site whose
acquisition it announced this month, and its 100% owned subsidiary Open Bank,
the leading on-line bank in Spain, to create a single platform that will be
one of the world's largest global financial Internet sites.
The chairman of the new company, named Patagon,com, will be Angel
Corcostegui, First Vice-Chairman and Managing Director of Banco Santander
Central Hispario, and Wenceslao Casares will be managing director
Daniel Canel will be general manager responsible for the America division and
Ana Maria Llopis, currently chairman of Open Bank, will be responsible for the
European division.
The new financial website will be an undisputed leader in on-line financial
services, with more than 60,000 customers and 15 million pages visited monthly.
Among its immediate objectives is to develop new pages with
practical information (financial advice, stock market news, home economy,
etc..), as well as chat circles, which already comprise more than 40,000
members, and above all the creation of a large-scale financial supermarket
for the American and European markets. The expansion plans for Europe
comprise Germany, Italy, the UK, France and Portugal.
The new company also aims to become the most visited site in the Bank's B2C
(business to consumer) platform and will consolidate other on-line assets of
Banco Santander Central Hispano throughout the world.
The Board of the new company will consist of seven members, five, from the Bank
and two from the founding group members of Patagon.com.
In order to pursue the expansion strategy, two major divisions will be created:
America and Europe, each run by the managing director and with the support of
550 professionals working on the project. Patagon.com will serve as a platform
for development in other European countries and will create a third division in
the near term covering the rest of the world.
The integration of Patagon.com and Open Bank is a new step in Banco Santander
Central Hispano's personal finance business and strengthens its Internet
presence in Europe and America.
Banco Santander Central Hispano has a current Internet customer base of 400,00
that it projects will reach one million by the end of this year, and a total
customer base of 24 million. It plans to continue investing and making
acquisitions to consolidate its global leadership in the financial sector.
The operation also reinforces Bank strategy in converting Patagon.com into a
global brand for personal banking that will take advantage of the synergies
generated by its broad customer base world-wide.
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