The story
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. 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 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, 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 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.
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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, 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, New Jersey, and New York. 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.
Timeline (2005–present)
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.
2007: Banco Popular North America sells five of six branches in Texas region to Prosperity Bank.
2007: Banco Popular acquires Citibank'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, after it failed and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation seized its deposits. On October 1, 2010, Popular sold 51% Evertec participating to Apollo Management.
2015: Banco Popular acquires the deposits of Doral Bank after regulators declared it insolvent.
2018: Popular Community Bank changed its name to Popular Bank (Legal name) and Popular, commercial name.
2026: Jorge J. García becomes President and Chief Executive Officer of Popular, Inc., succeeding Javier D. Ferrer, who retired effective August 31, 2026.
From Wikipedia’s article on Popular, Inc., shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.7