RENEE MONTAGNE, host: NPR's business news starts with a Spanish bank buy.</s>RENEE MONTAGNE, host: So stock prices have jumped, but U.S. bank stocks are still way down from their highs. And that makes them a bargain for healthy foreign banks willing to take a chance. Last night, Spain's biggest lender, Banco Santander, confirmed it's buying 75 percent of Sovereign Bancorp here in the U.S. Sovereign is based in Pennsylvania and has 750 branches, mostly on the East Coast, and it's the largest surviving U.S. savings and loan. Banco Santander already owned a quarter of Sovereign bank stock. Now that it's buying the whole bank, it will have a strong foothold in the American market.
While stock prices jumped Monday, U.S. bank stocks are way down from their highs. And that makes them still a bargain for healthy foreign banks willing to take a chance. Spain's biggest lender, Banco Santander, is buying 75 percent of Penn.-based Sovereign Bancorp. Sovereign has 750 branches and is the largest surviving U.S. savings and loan. Santander already owned a quarter of Sovereign's stock.