Sovereign Bank

An armed man forced his way into the Sovereign Bank branch in the Dresher Shopping Center about a half-hour before it opened yesterday, bound several employees with duct tape, and escaped with an undisclosed amount of cash. No one was hurt in the 8:30 a.m. robbery, authorities said. Linda Vizi, an FBI spokeswoman, said the man approached several bank employees as they entered the building at Dreshertown Road and Limekiln Pike in Montgomery County. "He ushered them by point of gun into the bank, tied them, and duct-taped them," she said.

Sovereign Bank, which has 70 branches in the Philadelphia region, said it received regulatory approval to convert from a savings bank to a national bank. The Boston-based bank, which used to be headquartered near Reading, is a subsidiary of Spain's Banco Santander S.A. Sovereign said the change would allow it to conduct more business with large corporations. Traditionally, savings banks have emphasized residential real estate lending. - Harold Brubaker

To prevent financial indigestion, Sovereign Bank will buy its way into New England in bite-sized chunks - and take its time paying. The U.S. Office of Thrift Supervision yesterday approved Sovereign's $1.4 billion purchase of surplus New England offices of the newly merged FleetBoston Corp., contingent on 18 conditions. "It's a huge transaction, compared to their existing franchise," said Scott Albinson, the agency's managing director for supervision. He said that Sovereign will double its branch network and its deposit base.

Sovereign Bank is the latest institution to replace debit cards compromised in a security breach at BJ's Wholesale Club Inc. The Philadelphia-based bank said it mailed letters last month to 83,000 customers warning them that their accounts were possibly at risk and telling them that replacement cards would arrive by next week. "Based on the work of the U.S. Secret Service, we decided to take a broad approach," Sovereign spokesman Dick Ehst said. The Secret Service, which enforces laws protecting currency and payment systems, is investigating the security breach.

Also in this column: Marketing pitch Tiny Curtis grows Happy birthday? Philadelphia-area banks are getting ready to buy a whole lot of new signs - and to do a lot of explaining to confused customers. Concord EFS of Memphis, which recently merged the Wilmington-based MAC automatic-teller network with two other systems, is giving banks and merchants that offer the machines a year and a half to scrap their MAC Card signs and install new Concord Star Systems logos.

Investors pounced on shares of Sovereign Bancorp after its chairman, Jay Sidhu, said last week that the bank was for sale at the right price. The rumor mill matched up the Philadelphia bank with Citizens Bank of Pennsylvania and with Washington Mutual Inc. Fleet Bank is also said to be shopping for bank branches in the hotly competitive Philadelphia market. But do not expect a sequel to 1998's Bank Sign Bingo, the last wave of consolidation to hit these parts. "It may look like the time to do it, but there aren't that many candidates to go," said Arnold G. Danielson, chairman of Danielson Associates.

Police say two men with a shotgun robbed the Sovereign Bank on Roosevelt Boulevard near Welsh Road yesterday. It was reportedly the sixth robbery in the area recently.

Bill Lemon of Sovereign Bank delivers toys to Presbyterian Children's Village in Rosemont. The village serves neglected and abused children. The bank and the Main Line Volunteer Force collected gifts.

Police are looking for a man who staged stickups at two banks two blocks apart in Southwest Philadelphia this morning. It is not clear yet if the thief made off with any money from the M&T Bank branch at 6301 Woodland Ave. or the Sovereign Bank branch at 6500 Woodland Ave. Police are using a photo taken from surveillance video in their hunt for the bandit.

Two Camden men were killed in unrelated shootings Tuesday night, authorities said Wednesday. Quenzell Morris, 31, was shot several times in an apparent robbery shortly after 8 p.m. at the intersection of North 26th and Cramer Streets in the Cramer Hill section, the Camden County Prosecutor's Office and city police said. An 18-year Camden resident who was with Morris was pistol-whipped. He fled but returned to find Morris shot and helped transport Morris to Cooper University Medical Center.

A federal judge handed down a 131/2-year sentence for a Pennsauken man who, while on release after robbing a bank, robbed three more. Richard B. Jones, 38, pleaded guilty to robbing a Sovereign Bank in Pennsauken on Nov. 28, 2011. He also admitted robbing the same bank and a PNC Bank, also in Pennsauken, that month. Jones was on federal supervised release at that time for a Rhode Island bank robbery he committed in 2006. Jones was sentenced to 151 months in prison for the new robberies and 24 months for violating release.

IN HOLLYWOOD, bank robbers are crafty villains who disable the surveillance cameras, find a way to get into the vault and escape without a trace. Or they come heavily armed with enough ammo to ward off a small army. In reality, they're usually much less sophisticated. Authorities are searching for a man they say has robbed seven banks and attempted to rob two others in the Philly area this month - without so much as a hood covering his face. In each instance, the unarmed bandit handed the teller a demand note, received an undisclosed sum of money and ran, authorities said.

A suspected serial robber hit his fifth bank this month, this time taking advantage of Sunday hours at a TD Bank branch in Philadelphia's Roxborough section, according to the FBI. The holdup was the city's sixth in a week and the 15th in barely a month. The FBI reported that at 12:05 p.m. Sunday, the suspect entered the TD bank at 5501 Ridge Ave. and passed a teller a demand note. After receiving an undisclosed amount of cash, he fled on foot and was seen running north on Ridge Avenue, then west on Markle Street.

In the Region   45,000 added to N.J. care program   Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey added 45,000 members to a program that pays primary-care doctors' practices to take a proactive role in coordinating care, making sure patients get needed tests and follow through on treatment plans. The expansion, which includes nine practices in South Jersey, brings to 200,000 the number of Horizon members in the model known as the patient-centered medical home. Horizon said the program has improved diabetes control and boosted the rate of breast and cervical cancer screenings.

A Delaware County man was arrested Wednesday after authorities said he robbed a bank in his neighborhood twice and used the money to pay property taxes, put new windows in his house, and fund a trip to Atlantic City. David Federowicz, 39, of Marcus Hook, was arrested without incident, District Attorney Jack Whelan said in a statement. He was charged with robbery, theft, and receiving stolen property. According to court documents, Federowicz robbed the Sovereign Bank in Marcus Hook in January and September 2011, stealing more than $14,000.

A man wanted for a Main Line bank robbery has been arrested after a standoff with police in Virginia, officials said Friday. Michael Francis Hamilton was hospitalized for an overdose after surrendering to police in Fredericksburg, according to the Free Lance-Star newspaper. Hamilton, 25, had been sought in the robbery Tuesday of the Sovereign Bank on Aldwyn Lane in Radnor Township. Radnor police confirmed that Hamilton, a native of West Norriton Township, had been arrested in Fredericksburg after a standoff with police at a motel.