Popular, Inc., doing business as Banco Popular in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands and as Popular Bank in the mainland United States, is a financial services conglomerate that has operated in Puerto Rico for over 125 years and in the mainland United States for over 52 years. In recent years, it has expanded into other areas of the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

and Central America. The BPPR in the logo stands for Banco Popular de Puerto Rico, where the bank has its major historical footprint. Popular, Inc. is the parent company of Banco Popular de Puerto Rico, Popular Bank,

E-Loan E-Loan, Inc. is a financial services company that offers its users access to partners that may be able to assist them in obtaining loans. E-Loan was a pioneer in the online lending industry in the late 1990s and early 2000s. As of 1999, it was th ...

, and several other companies. The headquarters of Banco Popular Puerto Rico is in Hato Rey,

San Juan San Juan, Spanish for Saint John, may refer to: Places Argentina * San Juan Province, Argentina * San Juan, Argentina, the capital of that province * San Juan, Salta, a village in Iruya, Salta Province * San Juan (Buenos Aires Underground), ...

History

The bank was founded in Puerto Rico in 1893 when the island was still under Spanish administration. It was led in its early stages by

Rafael Carrión Sr. Rafael Carrión Sr. (January 3, 1891 – March 26, 1964), the patriarch of one of Puerto Rico's financial dynasties, was one of the founding fathers of Banco Popular de Puerto Rico, the largest bank in Puerto Rico and the largest Hispanic bank in ...

and Don Manuel Muñoz Barrios, the latter of which was the company's first president and administrator. During the 1970s, the company's commercials were very popular on Puerto Rican television: they presented a balding, middle aged man in a white tee shirt, announcing the company in a comic way. The 1970s also saw a giant step in the development of Banco Popular as Puerto Rico's biggest bank, when it bought two-thirds of the Banco de Crédito y Ahorro Ponceño. Through this purchase, Popular entered the credit-card industry. During the following decades, Banco Popular put great of emphasis on the company's public image. It was during the 1980s, after Rafael Carrion, Sr.'s death, that Richard L. Carrión assumed the role as President of the corporation. In 1989, the bank introduced a children's savings service with a bear, "''Populoso''", as its mascot. The ''Club del Ahorro'' (or Savings Club) was (and still is) intended to encourage children to open savings accounts and keep track of their money.

1990s

The following decade started with a big development for the bank, when in 1990 it merged with

Banco de Ponce Banco de Ponce was the Puerto Rican bank with the largest number of branches in the United States and second largest bank in deposits and number of branches in Puerto Rico during the twentieth century. Founded in Ponce, Puerto Rico, in the e ...

, one of the largest banks in Puerto Rico. At this time, Banco Popular's holding company changed its name to BanPonce Corporation. Popular acquired Banco Roig, one of the main banks in the eastern side of the island, in 1997, entering a geographical market in which it had yet to succeed. During the late 1990s, the company began to diversify its services thanks to revisions of state laws that allowed banks certain 'privileges' related to different financial services other than banking. These years saw the birth of Popular Auto, Popular Finance, Popular Mortgage, Popular Insurance, Popular Leasing, among others. During this time, the company created one of its flagship subsidiaries, Popular Securities. It quickly became the investment banking, retail brokerage, and institutional sales arm of Banco Popular. On the retail side, Popular Securities has an extensive network of brokers in Puerto Rico, rivaled only by Swiss giant

UBS UBS Group AG is a multinational Investment banking, investment bank and financial services company founded and based in Switzerland. Co-headquartered in the cities of Zürich and Basel, it maintains a presence in all major financial centres ...

and more recently by Banco Santander. Popular Securities has additional offices in New York City, San Antonio, Houston, and Chicago.

2000s

Due to its growth in Puerto Rico, and the aggressive expansion in the United States, the company changed its name once again in 2000 to Popular, Inc., a name that goes back to the traditional roots of the corporation and which also reflects the common title in almost all of the subsidiaries of the company. During this period, the company reorganized itself into three main subsidiary companies: Banco Popular de Puerto Rico, with David Chafey Jr. as president; Popular Bank, with Roberto Herencia as president; and Evertec, with Felix Villamil as president. Richard Carrión remained as president and CEO of the parent company, Popular, Inc. In the January 24, 2005 issue of ''

Fortune Fortune may refer to: General * Fortuna or Fortune, the Roman goddess of luck * Luck * Wealth * Fortune, a prediction made in fortune-telling * Fortune, in a fortune cookie Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''The Fortune'' (1931 film) ...

'', Popular, Inc. was chosen as one of the ''100 Best Companies to Work For''. On April 11, 2005, Popular Bank announced a five-year agreement with the New York Mets under which Popular would operate seven ATMs and display various advertisements at Shea Stadium until it closed in September 2008, and the team moved to the new Citi Field.

Present

Popular's world headquarters are located in the San Juan's Hato Rey business district, on a stretch of a thoroughfare commonly known as '' Milla de Oro'' ("The Golden Mile") due to the number of banks headquartered in the area. Travelers who fly into the Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport can appreciate Popular's landmark building below. Between 2010 and 2012, the bank re-branded its mainland branches as Popular Community Bank in an effort to attract more non-Hispanic customers. The first branches to bear the new name were in the Chicago market followed by those in Southern California and Florida, then New York City and New Jersey. As of January, 2012, Popular, Inc. still owed $935 million to the US government Troubled Asset Relief Program. In March 2013, Popular announced it would sell a $568 million portfolio of non-performing loans to a joint venture between Caribbean Property Group and funds affiliated with Perella Weinberg Partners. In 2014, Popular Community Bank sold many of its mainland United States branches in Central Florida, Illinois and Southern California to cut costs and shore up its reserves against losses caused by foreclosures and the recession in Puerto Rico. After the sale, Popular Community Bank retained 49 branches in

South Florida South Florida is the southernmost region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is one of Florida's three most commonly referred to directional regions; the other two are Central Florida and North Florida. South Florida is the southernmost part of th ...

, New Jersey, and

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. On September 12, 2014, Harbor Community Bank purchased Popular's branches in Orlando and central Florida. On November 7, 2014, Banc of California in Irvine purchased 20 branches of Popular Community Bank in southern California. In 2018, Popular Community Bank changed its name to Popular Bank (Legal name) and Popular, commercial name.

Stats

* Ranked the 784th Largest Company In The World by '' Forbes'' (2006) * Ranked the 84th Best Company to Work For by ''

'' (2005) * Ranked the Best Consumer Internet Bank in Puerto Rico by ''

Global Finance The global financial system is the worldwide framework of legal agreements, institutions, and both formal and informal economic actors that together facilitate international flows of financial capital for purposes of investment and trade finan ...

'' (2007) * Has over $65 billion in assets * Approx. 8,000 employees * Symbol: BPOP (

NASDAQ The Nasdaq Stock Market () (National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations Stock Market) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the US by volume, and ranked second ...

)

Timeline

*1893: A group of local Puerto Rican and Spanish notables founded the Sociedad Anónima de Economías y Préstamos (later Banco Popular de Economías y Préstamos) on 5 October 1893. The founders wanted to create a thrift institution for the island's poor to encourage savings. *1928: First bank in Puerto Rico to offer personal loans without collateral. *1930: Popular acquired the Banco Comercial de Puerto Rico. This bank had begun in 1857 as Banco Español de Puerto Rico and changed its name to Banco de Puerto Rico in 1900. Then in 1913 it changed its name to Banco Comercial de Puerto Rico. *1938: First bank in Puerto Rico to offer an FHA mortgage loan. *1950: Popular becomes the largest bank in Puerto Rico. *1961: Popular opened a branch in New York City ( Bronx) to serve the Puerto Rican community there. *1973: First bank in Puerto Rico to offer combined accounts. *1975: Popular opened a branch in Los Angeles. Although US banks could not branch across state lines, non-US banks could. The California State Superintendent of Banking declared Puerto Rico "international", allowing Popular to open a branch in reciprocity for the branch Bank of America had opened in Puerto Rico. *1981: Popular started to expand in the Caribbean by establishing a branch in the

U.S. Virgin Islands The United States Virgin Islands,. Also called the ''American Virgin Islands'' and the ''U.S. Virgin Islands''. officially the Virgin Islands of the United States, are a group of Caribbean islands and an unincorporated and organized territory ...

and another in Tortola, British Virgin Islands. *1984: Popular took over the failed Washington National Bank, a locally owned bank catering to the Hispanic community in Chicago. Popular also launched the first automated teller machine network in the island. *1988: Popular is the first bank in Puerto Rico to offer phone-banking. *1990: Popular merged with Banco de Ponce to create the largest bank in Puerto Rico. The holding company took the name BanPonce. (Banco de Ponce had established an agency in New York that it had converted to a branch in 1961. At the time of the merger, Banco de Ponce had nine branches in New York to Popular's six.) *1991: Popular acquired the deposits and one branch of New York Capital Bank in upper Manhattan, an unsuccessful attempt to revive the failed Capital National Bank, which had served most of the Dominican small businesses there. *1992: Popular acquired seven branches from the failed American Savings Bank, four branches and their deposits from Bank Leumi Trust Company, and one branch and its deposits from Northside Savings Bank. *1993: Popular became the largest bank in the Virgin Islands when it acquired CoreStates

First Pennsylvania Bank First Pennsylvania Bank was a bank based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1782, it was for centuries the oldest bank in the United States until it was acquired by CoreStates Financial Corporation in 1989. In the 1970s, First Pennsylvania o ...

's five branches there. Century Anniversary. *1994: Popular bought Pioneer Bank in Chicago and merged it with Popular's existing operations. Popular also entered New Jersey by buying four branches from the failed Carteret Savings Bank. It then opened two more branches, to form Banco Popular FSB (a federal savings association). *1995: Popular established the ATH Dominicana ATM network in the Dominican Republic. (ATH stands for "A Toda Hora". i.e., "at all hours".) *1996: Popular bought American Midwest Bank for its two branches in suburban Melrose Park, a Chicago suburb that was drawing Hispanics. In California, Popular created a subsidiary, Banco Popular NA (California), bought Commerce National Bank, and transferred to it the branch that it had established in 1975. *1997: Popular acquired the Seminole Bank branch in Sanford, Florida, and Banco Roig in Puerto Rico. *1998: Popular made Chicago the headquarters for the US Executive Offices of its subsidiary, Popular North America, which took over all its US mainland commercial activities. In the Dominican Republic, Popular took a minority position in Banco Fiduciario, the fourth largest bank, a stake that it later built up to a majority position. Popular entered Costa Rica as it had entered the Dominican Republic, Popular entered Costa Rica in the same way as it had entered the Dominican Republic, i.e., by establishing an ATM network, ATH Costa Rica. *1999: Popular bought First State Bank of Southern California from Korea's Hanil Bank and merged it with Popular (California). In the Chicago area, Popular bought Irving Bank, Water Tower Bank and Aurora National Bank. Popular also bought Banco Popular, a start-up bank in

Orlando, Florida Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County, Florida, Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Greater Orlando, Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, acco ...

, and Citizens Bank in Houston. In addition, Popular bought the GM Group, entering the processing business. *2000: Popular begins it
online banking system
*2001: Popular buys three branches in Puerto Rico's central mountain region from BBVA. *2005: Popular completes acquisition of Quaker City Bank, establishing California as the largest region of Popular Bank. Popular also purchases New Jersey's Infinity Mortgage for an undisclosed amount. On August 3, 2005, Popular announced the purchase of E-Loan for an estimated $300 million merger agreement. A month later, on September 21, Popular announced that it would sell Popular Cash Express to ACE Cash Express for $36 million. Popular was ranked as the 691st largest company in the world by ''Forbes''. *2006: Banco Popular North America relocates its California Region headquarters to Anaheim, California headed by Vernon Aguirre. Banco Popular Ahaneim

*2007: Banco Popular North America sells five of six branches in Texas region to Prosperity Bank. *2007: Banco Popular acquires

Citibank Citibank, N. A. (N. A. stands for " National Association") is the primary U.S. banking subsidiary of financial services multinational Citigroup. Citibank was founded in 1812 as the City Bank of New York, and later became First National City ...

's retail business in Puerto Rico, including nine branches, as well as the operations in Puerto Rico of broker-dealer Smith Barney, a Citibank subsidiary. *2008: Popular agrees to sell certain assets of Equity One, the U.S. mainland consumer finance operations of Popular Financial Holdings, to American General Finance, a member of American International Group. *2010: Banco Popular acquires competitor

Westernbank The W Holding Company was a financial holding corporation located in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico. On April 30, 2010, Westernbank, its wholly owned bank subsidiary, failed and its deposits and assets were seized by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corpor ...

, after it failed and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation seized its deposits. On October 1, 2010, Popular sold 51% Evertec participating to

Apollo Management Apollo Global Management, Inc. is an American global private-equity firm. It provides investment management and invests in credit, private equity, and real assets. As of March 31, 2022, the company had $512 billion of assets under management, i ...

. *2015: Banco Popular acquires the deposits of

Doral Bank Doral Financial Corporation was the holding company of ''Doral Bank''. It was founded in 1972. At the time the bank closed in February 2015, it had $5.9 billion in assets and 26 branches. History Doral Financial Corporation was a Puerto Rico base ...

after regulators declared it insolvent. *2018: Popular Community Bank changed its name to Popular Bank (Legal name) and Popular, commercial name.

Subsidiaries and Services

Puerto Rico

*Banco Popular de Puerto Rico *Popular Auto *Popular Securities *Popular Asset Management *Popular Insurance *Plazapop

United States

*Popular Bank *Popular Business Banking *Popular Association Banking *Popular Equipment Finance *Popular Direct *Popular Mortgage *Popular Private Client

Virgin Islands

*Banco Popular Virgin Islands

Former Subsidiaries

*Popular Cash Express (sold to ACE Cash Express on 09/21/2005)

Musical tradition

For its 100th Anniversary celebration, Popular gathered a group of famous Latin-American musicians in an effort to create a musical televised show. After the large success of this venture, the company began to produce annual live Christmas concerts and television specials with various Puerto Rican and international singers and artists. The 1996 version included the future star Shakira. The concerts and specials are aired in local television stations and then released on

CDs The compact disc (CD) is a digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. In August 1982, the first compact disc was manufactured. It was then released in Octo ...

and DVD, raising money for the company's philanthropic foundation (Fundación Banco Popular) which benefits a variety of non-profit organizations in the island. The titles of the musicals are: * 1993 - Un Pueblo que Canta (People Who Sing) * 1994 - El Espíritu de un Pueblo (The Spirit of a People) * 1995 - Somos un Sólo Pueblo (We Are One People) * 1996 - Al Compás de un Sentimiento (To the Rhythm of a Feeling) * 1997 - Siempre Piel Canela (Always Brown Skin) * 1998 - Romance del Cumbanchero (Romance of the Cumbanchero) * 1999 - Con la Música por Dentro (With the Music Within) * 2000 - Guitarra Mía: Un Tributo a José Feliciano (My Guitar: A Tribute to José Feliciano) * 2001 - Raíces (Roots) * 2002 - Encuentro (Encounter) * 2003 - Ocho Puertas (Eight Doors) * 2004 - En Mi País (In My Country) * 2005 - Queridos Reyes Magos (Dear Wise Men) * 2006 - Viva Navidad (Viva Christmas) * 2007 - Lo Mejor de Nuestra Música Popular: 15 Años de Éxitos (The Best of Our Popular Music: 15 Years of Hits) * 2008 - Eco (Echo) * 2009 - Palés y la Rumba de Esquina ( Palés and the Corner Rumba) * 2010 - (

Salsa Salsa most often refers to: * Salsa (Mexican cuisine), a variety of sauces used as condiments * Salsa music, a popular style of Latin American music * Salsa (dance), a Latin dance associated with Salsa music Salsa or SALSA may also refer to: A ...

: An Homage to El Gran Combo) * 2011 - Sonó, Sonó: Tite Curet (Sounded, It Sounded: Tite Curet) * 2012 - Hecho con Sabor a Puerto Rico (Made with Flavor of Puerto Rico) * 2013 - Música en Tiempos (Music Through Times) * 2014 - Qué Lindo Es Puerto Rico (How Beautiful is Puerto Rico) * 2015 - Cuba y Puerto Rico Son (Puerto Rico and Cuba

Son A son is a male offspring; a boy or a man in relation to his parents. The female counterpart is a daughter. From a biological perspective, a son constitutes a first degree relative. Social issues In pre-industrial societies and some current c ...

) * 2016 - De Puerto Rico para el Mundo (From Puerto Rico to the World) * 2017 - Nuestra Isla, Nuestro Encanto (Our Island, Our Charm) * 2018 - Más de un Siglo (More than a Century) * 2019 - Tiempos de Aguinaldo (Times of Aguinaldo) * 2020 - Somos música (We Are Music) * 2021 - Ellas, mujeres en la música (Women in music
Online Discography

Competitors (in Puerto Rico)

* Oriental Financial *

First BanCorp First BanCorp is a publicly owned financial holding company located in San Juan, Puerto Rico. History FirstBank was the first Savings & Loan institution established in Puerto Rico with a capital of $200,000 in 1948. Today, the company provides ...