READING, Penn. – Another major bank is boosting its provisions for loan losses and citing deterioration in the consumer credit market, along with volatility in mortgage backed securities, as the reason. Sovereign Bancorp said it will boost its provision for credit losses to between $155 million and $165 million from between $104 million and $114 million. The bank said approximately $50 million of the increase is related to the bank's remaining correspondent home equity loan portfolio, and about $40 million of the increase is related to the company's decision to increase reserves in its indirect auto-lending portfolio. Sovereign’s move follows a similar loan loss provision boost by Citibank last week.
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