Payday loan business concerns Cordovans

Banco Santander's U.S. retail banking foray keeps causing it pain. Its 25 percent stake in Sovereign Bancorp was controversial from the start. The deal sparked a shareholder revolt that cost the Wyomissing bank's then-chief Jay S. Sidhu his job. Now, the Spanish bank has written down the value of the investment by $1.1 billion, or 38 percent. And the original deal's terms continue to restrict Santander's options. First, it can't simply walk away: It isn't allowed to sell its shares in Sovereign until the middle of 2011. That might not be so bad if Sovereign's $1.6 billion loss last quarter marks the extent of its mortgage- and car-loan woes. But these still could worsen, if the economy in the Northeast slows. And the New York bank Sovereign bought using the cash from Santander's investment - Independence Community Bank Corp. read more