Re Joint Venture

Banco Santander Central Hispano SA
24 October 2000

           AOL EUROPE AND BANCO SANTANDER CENTRAL HISPANO, S.A. 
                CREATE JOINT VENTURE TO LAUNCH AOL-BRANDED
                        INTERACTIVE SERVICES IN SPAIN

*     Joint venture to bring together AOL brand and Internet expertise with
prestige, resources and 10-million customer base of Banco Santander Central
Hispano in one of Europe's fastest-growing Internet markets

*     Venture to launch 'AOL Avant' portal customized for instant access on
Internet appliance

*     Juan Perea to join venture as non-executive chairman

Madrid, October 24, 2000 -- AOL Europe, S.A., one of Europe's leading
interactive services companies and a unit of America Online, Inc. (NYSE:AOL),
and Banco Santander Central Hispano (NYSE:STD), the leading financial group in
Spain and Latin America, today announced a joint venture to launch AOL-branded
interactive services in Spain.

The joint venture would bring together the European unit of the world's largest
online company and the only pan-European Internet provider with Banco Santander
Central Hispano, a leader in Internet banking with a 10 million strong customer
base in Spain.

America Online and Banco Santander Central Hispano each will acquire 40% of the
new joint venture's equity, and the remaining 20% will be held by investors in
Prodigios Interactivos, an Internet portal under development and backed by Banco
Santander Central Hispano, Sol Melia and Planeta, and other investors.  The
Prodigios project will provide the basis for the first effort by the joint
venture.  AOL Avant, Europe's first mass-market interactive portal customized to
an Internet appliance.

The Prodigios project has already brought together a management and employee
team of more than 100, who will now move to the joint-venture.  Juan Perea will
join the company as its non-executive chairman, and Oscar Ruiz, CEO of Prodigios
Interactivos, will serve as CEO of the joint venture.

According to Jupiter Communications, Spain is one of Europe's fastest-growing
Internet markets.  With a population of more than 40 million, Spain's user base
of 3.9 million in 1999 is expected to grow to 7.3 million in 2001 and 13.4
million in 2005.

AOL Avant, designed to complement an Internet appliance, will offer easy-to-use,
convenient and valuable AOL features as well as 20 content channels including
Travel, Finance and Shopping, and seamless access to the Internet.

In conjunction with the AOL Avant service, the joint venture will distribute
500,000 Internet appliances to selected Banco Santander Central Hispano
customers.  The complete package of AOL Avant and the Internet appliance will be
offered to Spanish consumers for an affordable monthly subscription fee, and
promoted through the banking group's 6,000 strong branch network to its 10
million customers nationwide. 

Featuring 'instant-on' access to AOL Avant, the appliance will offer 64 MB of
RAM, 4Gb hard drive and a wireless keyboard with five 'smart keys' to take the
user directly to the web or content partners. The appliance will operate on a
customized version of the Linux operating system.

AOL Europe is one of the leading multinational Internet, online and e-commerce
services providers in Europe. Through its successful multiple-brand strategy,
AOL Europe operates the leading AOL, CompuServe and Netscape Online services,
AOL Instant Messenger, AOL and CompuServe portals in nine countries and four
languages across Europe. From the first service launch in 1995, AOL Europe's
multiple brands now reach more than 4 million households across Europe.

Banco Santander Central Hispano, S.A. (NYSE: STD, Spanish stock exchange: SCH)
is the leading financial group in Spain and Latin America and one of the largest
banks by market capitalization in the Euro Zone. At June 30, 2000, it had US$384
billion in total managed funds and US$303 billion in assets, with 30 million
customers and operations in 36 countries, including all of the world's major
financial centers. Banco Santander Central Hispano offers a wide range of
commercial and consumer banking services in Europe and Latin America through its
over 9,800 offices and more than 111,000 employees. The Group is first in total
assets in the region and is among the leaders in managing funds in Europe and
Latin America, with more than $73.4 billion in mutual and pension funds under
management worldwide.