Sovereign Bank is reportedly moving its headquarters to Boston from Pennsylvania, a significant gain for banking in the Bay State.

The Boston Globe, which reported the story this morning, said the move to Massachusetts will make Sovereign the largest retail bank based in the state. It will be the first major bank to be based in Boston since FleetBank was purchased by Bank of America seven years ago.

Sovereign, a unit of Spanish banking giant Banco Santander S.A. of Madrid, operates throughout Northeast and Middle Atlantic regions. Of its 8,500 national employees, nearly 2,700 are employed in Massachusetts.

A spokesman for Sovereign was not immediately available for further comment.