BOSTON, March 26 /PRNewswire/ -- Sovereign Bank announced today the
launch of their new online Health Savings Account (HSA) Learning Tools for
health insurance brokers, employers and employees. The new service features
educational portals that provide interactive tools, movies, wizards and
information to help people better understand the benefits of enrolling in
HSAs.
Eduardo Tobon, senior vice president and director of Sovereign's HSA
program noted that controlling health care costs is one of the most
important issues facing companies and consumers. He added, "We found that
the biggest impediment to embracing new, lower cost health care solutions
is simply a lack of information on the part of employers and employees. We
wanted to ensure that Sovereign offered not just a leading Health Savings
Account (HSA), but also a superior support infrastructure in education and
decision-making tools. By packaging these services, we're providing
employers with a valuable new employee benefit option."
Sovereign partnered with Finity Communications, a leader in Consumer
Directed Healthcare (CDH) education, to create three educational portals.
The portals are founded on behavior-based research from the 401(k)
industry.
"Everyone learns differently," said Deborah Stewart, President and CEO
of Finity Communications, Inc., the Portland, Ore.-based creative and
technology agency that developed the software and content for Sovereign's
HSA Web portals. "The portals are designed in four different learning
styles that have proven effective at motivating positive behavioral
changes."
"We do not believe you should be in this business if you are not
willing to step up to the education challenge," said Tobon, discussing the
decision by Sovereign to invest in the HSA portals.
The portals launched in March, and are now available to Sovereign
Bank's HSA clients and brokers involved in Sovereign's Broker Certification
Program.
An abridged version of the employee portal is available to the public
at http://www.sovereignbank.com/personal/banking/savings/health_savings.asp. More
information on Sovereign's Employer HSA Program can be found at
http://www.sovereignbank.com/hsaemployer.
About Sovereign
Sovereign Bancorp, Inc., ("Sovereign") (NYSE: SOV), is the parent
company of Sovereign Bank, a $90 billion financial institution as of
December 31, 2006 headquartered in Wyomissing, Pa., with nearly 800
community banking offices, over 2,000 ATMs and approximately 12,000 team
members with principal markets in the northeast United States. Sovereign
offers a broad array of financial services and products including retail
banking, business and corporate banking, cash management, capital markets,
wealth management and insurance. Sovereign is the 18th largest banking
institution in the United States. For more information on Sovereign Bank,
visit http://www.sovereignbank.com or call 1-877-SOV-BANK.
About Finity Communications
Finity Communications, Inc. is a creative and technology agency based
in Portland, Oregon. The company is a leading provider of CDH marketing and
education content for financial institutions and health plan providers
throughout the United States. Finity is the creator of the 4E Learning
System; one of the most proven behavior-based education methodologies in
the benefit industry. For more information on Finity, call (800) 509-1346
or visit http://www.finity.com.
SOURCE Sovereign Bank
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Related links:
http://www.sovereignbank.com
http://www.finity.com/
CONTACT:
Ellen Molle, of Sovereign Bank,
+1-617-757-5573, cell +1-617-548-9932, emolle@sovereignbank.com
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