Sovereign Bancorp, the Pennsylvania-based parent company of Sovereign Bank which operates executive offices in Boston, has reported net income of $127.4 million in the second quarter, down 13.6 percent compared to the second quarter of 2007.

For the six months ended June 30, Sovereign recorded a 16.4 percent increase in net income compared to the same period last year, from $195.5 million to $227.6 million.

Second quarter net income increased 27 percent compared to first quarter net income of $100.1 million, and was the second straight quarter of profitability for the bank after losing $1.6 billion in the final quarter of 2007.