Statement re Patagon.com

Banco Santander Central Hispano SA
23 March 2000



Patagon.com will be integrated with Open Bank to go beyond the pure Internet
banking concept

                     BANCO SANTANDER CENTRAL HISPANO CREATES
                  PATAGON.COM AS LEADING GLOBAL FINANCIAL WEBSITE

*  The  chairman  of the new company will be Angel Corcostegui,  First
   Vice-Chairman  and  Managing  Director  of Santander  Central  Hispano,  and 
  the managing director will be Wenceslao Casares.

*  The company's world-wide operating brand will be Patagon.com

*  Expansion  plans in Europe include Germany, Italy, the  UK,  France and      
  Portugal in the short term

*  The integration strengthens Group strategy by converting Patagon.com into a  
  global brand for personal finances

Madrid, March 22, 2000  -  Banco  Santander Central  Hispano  will  integrate
Patagon.com,  the  leading  Latin  American  financial  internet   site   whose
acquisition  it announced this month, and its 100% owned subsidiary  Open  Bank,
the  leading  on-line bank in Spain, to create a single platform  that  will  be
one of the world's largest global financial Internet sites.

The   chairman  of  the  new  company,  named  Patagon,com,  will   be   Angel
Corcostegui,  First  Vice-Chairman and Managing  Director  of  Banco  Santander
Central Hispario, and Wenceslao Casares will be managing director

Daniel Canel will be general manager responsible for the America division and
Ana Maria Llopis, currently chairman of Open Bank, will be responsible for the
European division.

The  new  financial  website will be an undisputed leader in  on-line  financial
services, with more than 60,000 customers and 15 million pages visited  monthly.
 Among   its  immediate  objectives  is  to  develop  new  pages  with 
practical information (financial advice, stock market news, home economy,
etc..), as  well as chat circles, which already comprise more than 40,000
members, and above all the  creation  of  a  large-scale financial supermarket 
for  the  American  and European  markets. The expansion plans for Europe
comprise Germany,  Italy,  the UK, France and Portugal.

The  new  company also aims to become the most visited site in the Bank's  B2C
(business  to  consumer) platform and will consolidate other on-line  assets  of
Banco Santander Central Hispano throughout the world.

The  Board of the new company will consist of seven members, five, from the Bank
and two from the founding group members of Patagon.com.

In  order to pursue the expansion strategy, two major divisions will be created:
America  and Europe, each run by the managing director and with the support  of
550  professionals working on the project. Patagon.com will serve as a platform
for development in other European countries and will create a third division in
the near term covering the rest of the world.

The integration  of Patagon.com and Open Bank is a new step in Banco  Santander
Central  Hispano's  personal  finance business  and  strengthens  its  Internet
presence in Europe and America.

Banco  Santander Central Hispano has a current Internet customer base of  400,00
that it projects will reach one million by the end of this year, and  a  total
customer  base  of  24  million.  It  plans to  continue  investing  and  making
acquisitions to consolidate its global leadership in the financial sector.

The operation also reinforces Bank strategy in converting Patagon.com into  a
global  brand  for  personal banking that will take advantage of  the  synergies
generated by its broad customer base world-wide.