Sovereign Bancorp – $1.580B

2008-04-08:

For it’s fiscal fourth quarter ending December 31, 2007 Sovereign Bancorp, the second-largest U.S. savings and loan, announced $1.58 billion of write-offs. The bank also took write downs which included

• $600 million of goodwill tied to consumer lending
• $800 million of goodwill related to its 2006 purchase of Independence Community Bank Corp
• $180 million for preferred stock investments in mortgage financiers Fannie Mae (FNM.N) and Freddie Mac (FRE.N).

So the fourth quarter 2007 tally comes in at $1.580 billion.

Additionally the full year 2007 financial results include

• Net loss of $1.3 billion, including all charges
• Provision for credit losses of $408 million
• Sovereign also recorded a $35.3 million write-down on the mortgage loans

The fourth-quarter losses were 10 times higher than the same period in 2006. The bank also said it was suspending its quarterly stock dividend indefinitely.

We are still digging through the 2007annual report trying to get the full year write-down. More to come for sure.

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