Popular, Inc.

Stock performance

History

Banco Popular was founded in San Juan in 1893 as a savings and loan bank for working people and grew over the 20th century into Puerto Rico's largest bank. It weathered the island's long recession that began in 2006, emerging stronger as weaker local rivals failed, including Westernbank, whose deposits and assets Popular took over in a 2010 FDIC-assisted transaction.

Business model

Popular, the holding company, operates Banco Popular de Puerto Rico, which provides retail, commercial, and mortgage banking, insurance, and wealth management on the island and in the US and British Virgin Islands, along with Popular Bank, which serves customers in New York, New Jersey, and Florida. Its deposit base benefits from its dominant local market share and federal funds flowing into Puerto Rico.

Market position

Popular is by far the largest bank in Puerto Rico, holding roughly half of the island's deposits, ahead of FirstBank and Oriental (OFG), and it is one of the 50 largest banks in the United States by assets.

Country impact

Popular is the island's most important financial institution, central to mortgage, consumer, and business lending, and it played a key role in keeping the payments system running after Hurricane Maria in 2017. Its stability through Puerto Rico's government debt crisis gave it an outsized role as the island's banking anchor.