Sovereign Bank

Authorities say they caught a serial bank robber - moments after his last heist - who they believe hit five Center City institutions over the last few weeks. Malcolm Wayne Duncan, 52, was arrested Thursday afternoon as he tried to flee after robbing the Wachovia Bank near Fifth and Market Streets, police said. Duncan was charged with one count of bank robbery and faces charges in recent robberies at the Sovereign Bank at 15th and Market Streets, the Beneficial Bank at 16th and Chestnut Streets, and the Susquehanna Bank at 16th and Market.

City Councilman W. Wilson Goode Jr.'s crusade to force big banks to better serve minorities will result in one institution's being stripped of its city deposits and two others being declared ineligible for deposits, city officials said yesterday. City Treasurer Rebecca Rhynhart said the city would remove its deposits from BNY Mellon, which on any given day holds $2 million to $4 million of city money. The bank is used by the Board of Pensions and Retirement to write checks for retiree benefits.

Disguised by a fake beard and sometimes armed, Keith Epps allegedly went on a bank-robbery spree for two years through Camden and Gloucester Counties. Now, the Sicklerville man faces further charges after his arrest Friday night in connection with a Collingswood heist, officials announced yesterday. In all, Epps, 34, faces eight counts of robbery, authorities said. The first crime took place Sept. 8, 2007, at Sun National Bank in Gloucester Township, followed by robberies at branches of Sovereign Bank, TD Banknorth, and The Bank in Monroe, Berlin, Clementon, Cherry Hill, and Voorhees.

Sovereign Bancorp Inc. of Philadelphia said yesterday it was cutting 1,000 jobs, or 8 percent of its staff, to reduce costs. "There is never a good time to reduce staff, but this step is necessary, particularly during this economic environment," Kirk W. Walters, Sovereign's chief financial officer and acting chief executive, said in a statement. Sovereign is being taken over by Banco Santander SA of Spain for an estimated $1.9 billion in stock. The Spanish bank already is Sovereign's largest shareholder with a 24 percent stake.

Terry D'Alessandro is a single mom who started as a bank teller on the Main Line and worked her way up to Sovereign Bank's chief executive officer for this region. Her rise in business and top civic roles will be saluted with a Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce Paradigm Award this week. Her story is not, say those who know her, about elbows and ambition. In conversation, she is businesslike, laying out issues with systematic clarity. She turns graciously passionate, laced with humor, when the talk turns to women in the workplace and the challenges and risks of an ever-increasing pace of change.

The U.S. Justice Department filed a civil lawsuit in Philadelphia yesterday against imprisoned Princeton financier John B. Torkelsen, California businessman Richard D. Propper, and Connecticut lawyer Daniel P. Beharry for allegedly defrauding the Small Business Administration of $32 million. The former Main Street Bank in Philadelphia, predecessor to Sovereign Bank, also was named as a defendant. Sovereign spokesman Ed Shultz said the transactions related to the case were made before Sovereign acquired Main Street Bank in 2002.

The "Smiling Bandit," who has eluded Philadelphia police and the FBI while he looted area banks for months, was caught yesterday in Upper Darby, police said. Joseph Saunders, 51, who is homeless, was arrested shortly after robbing a Wachovia Bank branch on Garrett Road, police said. The nickname was given after bank cameras caught the robber smiling as he took money from tellers. The FBI identified Saunders as a suspect in the Oct. 11 robbery at Sovereign Bank at 20th and Market Streets in Philadelphia.

Not everyone in the Pennsylvania General Assembly joined the rush to pass legislation making it easier for Sovereign Bancorp Inc. to fight dissident investors. The deal was done "in the middle of the night" on Wednesday, complained Peter A. Langerman, chief executive officer of Franklin Mutual Advisers L.L.C. and one of a number of Sovereign dissidents who have sent Gov. Rendell messages urging him not to sign. State records show that some representatives objected to the pace of the legislation, which swept through with support from Republican legislative leaders and State Rep. Thomas R. Caltagirone (D., Berks)

The manager of New Jersey state workers' pension plans has joined the criticism of Sovereign Bancorp Inc.'s plan to accept an investment from a Spanish bank and buy a bank in New York. The "byzantine" deal involving Sovereign, Banco Santander Central Hispano S.A., and Independence Community Bank Corp. is "a parody" of New York Stock Exchange rules and regulations, Orin S. Kramer, chairman of the New Jersey State Investment Council, wrote yesterday to the exchange's chief regulator, Richard Ketchum.

Sovereign Bank said yesterday that it would provide up to $250 million in low-interest loans in a new program aimed at Pennsylvania small businesses. The bank will make the money available over three years in amounts ranging from $250,000 to $2.5 million, Sovereign Bank's chief executive officer, Jay Sidhu, told reporters in Philadelphia. Sidhu and other bank officials were joined by Gov. Rendell and the heads of the state departments of banking and economic development. The program is another step in his effort to boost job creation, Rendell said.