PROVIDENCE – Steven J. Issa, regional CEO of Sovereign Bank for more than three years, has stepped down, although the circumstances surrounding his departure weren’t immediately clear Monday.
A recording on the phone line to Issa’s Providence office said Monday that Issa “will no longer be at bank” as of Nov. 19, but provided no further explanation.
A Sovereign spokeswoman declined to elaborate except to release this statement: “Steve Issa has left the bank to pursue other professional opportunities. We wish him continued success as he takes on this new challenge.”
Issa did not immediately return a message left on his cell phone.
A Cumberland resident, Issa has served as Sovereign’s market CEO for the New England South region since June 2007, and he had been CEO for Rhode Island for several years before that. He joined Sovereign in 1997, after stints with the former Shawmut Bank and Old Stone Corp.
Sovereign – a Pennsylvania-based thrift that has since moved much of its corporate functions to Boston – has had its share of difficulties during the financial market turmoil of recent years, losing hundreds of millions of dollars on collateralized debt obligations it held, laying off hundreds of workers and posting quarterly losses in 2009.
The bank was purchased in early 2009 by Spanish Banco Santander SA.
According to Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. deposit market share reports, Sovereign had stumbled a bit in Rhode Island.
Sovereign – which had entered the Rhode Island market in 1999 with the purchase of 50 former Fleet/BankBoston branches – had been the No. 3 commercial bank in Rhode Island by deposits for several years, behind Citizens Bank and Bank of America.
But as of June 30, Westerly-based Washington Trust Co. had overtaken Sovereign in deposits despite having 16 branches in Rhode Island to Sovereign’s 32. Sovereign posted $1.83 billion in deposits as of June 30, down from $1.99 billion a year earlier. Washington Trust had $1.88 billion in deposits as of June 30.
