Santander Opens New Branch At Boston Medical Center

BOSTON, May 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Santander Bank celebrated the opening of its newest Massachusetts branch at Boston Medical Center (BMC) today, furthering its commitment to the first-class healthcare facility. Executives and team members from Santander and BMC attended the grand opening and ribbon cutting to officially open the branch at 850 Harrison Avenue in Boston.

"We have a long-standing relationship with Boston Medical Center and opened this branch to build upon our partnership with the hospital," said Michael Bruno, Region President for Northeastern New England at Santander. He added, "BMC is a critical institution that provides high-quality healthcare to all of its patients and we aim to serve the banking needs of BMC's more than 6,000 employees, as well as the patients, visitors and residents who live in nearby neighborhoods by providing competitive products and services that fit the financial needs of this diverse community."

The full-service branch is adjacent to the Emergency Department and features a new design aimed to improve customer experience, with an open layout and comfortable meeting "nooks" where bankers can meet with customers to discuss their financial needs. There is also a 24-hour zone with two deposit-taking ATMs that are available after branch hours. The branch will continue to introduce and feature new technologies to further help customers with their banking needs as they evolve. The branch manager and his team are available Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to noon to assist existing customers and those who would like to become customers of Santander.

"Santander has been an avid supporter of BMC and we are thrilled to take this step in our partnership by having a full-service branch on our campus to offer convenient services to staff, patients, visitors and our neighbors," said Alastair Bell, MD, MBA, senior vice president and chief operating officer at BMC.

As part of the grand opening, Santander Bank donated $5,000 to the Preventive Food Pantry at BMC to address nutrition-related illness and under-nutrition concerns of BMC's low-income patients. With a prescription from their BMC primary care provider, patients can visit the Food Pantry twice a month to receive foods that best promote physical health, prevent future illness and facilitate recovery. This includes fresh fruits, vegetables and meats – items that can be expensive and often lacking in the diets of low-income individuals and families. Recipients receive three to four days' worth of food for their household at each visit.

Since 2014, Santander has partnered with BMC as the official sponsor of Team BMC, the hospital's Boston Marathon team, raising money and awareness to support the hospital's Building the New BMC campaign, which will include the construction of a new, state-of-the-art Emergency Department. BMC is the busiest provider of trauma and emergency services in the region, with more than 130,000 emergency department visits and more than 2,000 trauma admissions per year.

Santander Bank, N.A. is one of the country's top retail and commercial banks by deposits and a wholly owned subsidiary of Banco Santander, S.A. - one of the most respected banking groups in the world. With its corporate offices in Boston, Santander Bank's more than 670 branches and nearly 2,100 ATMs are principally located in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware. The Bank's 9,400 employees are committed to helping our 2.1 million customers make progress toward their financial goals with the support of our call centers, interactive online banking platform and easy to-use mobile app. Madrid-based Banco Santander SAN serves more than 117 million customers in the U.K., Europe, Latin America and the U.S. Through its local affiliates, including Santander Bank, Banco Santander is the largest corporate contributor to higher education in the world, investing over $165 million annually in colleges and universities across more than 20 countries, including the U.S. For more information on Santander Bank, please visit www.santanderbank.com.

Boston Medical Center is a private, not-for-profit, 496-bed, academic medical center that is the primary teaching affiliate of Boston University School of Medicine. It is the largest and busiest provider of trauma and emergency services in New England. It offers specialized care for complex health problems and is a leading research institution, receiving more than $119 million in sponsored research funding in fiscal year 2015. In 1997, BMC founded Boston Medical Center Health Plan, Inc., now one of the top ranked Medicaid MCOs in the country, as a non-profit managed care organization serving Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Boston Medical Center and Boston University School of Medicine are partners in the Boston HealthNet – 13 community health centers focused on providing exceptional health care to residents of Boston. For more information, please visit http://www.bmc.org.

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130724/PH52209LOGO

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/santander-opens-new-branch-at-boston-medical-center-300271765.html

SOURCE Santander Bank, N.A.