Banco Popular
 |
|
| Public | |
| Traded as | NASDAQ: BPOP |
| Industry | Finance and Insurance |
| Founded | San Juan (1893-10-05) |
| Headquarters | Hato Rey, San Juan, Puerto Rico |
|
Key people
|
Richard Carrión, Chairman & CEO |
| Products |
Banking Checking Accounts Insurance Stock brokerage Investment Bank Asset-Based Lending Consumer finance |
| Revenue |
 US$ 3.82 billion (2007) |
|
US$ 789 million (2007) |
|
 US$ 599.3 million (2013) |
|
| Total assets |
|
|
Number of employees
|
13,210 (2005) |
| Website | www.popular.com |
Popular, Inc., doing business as Banco Popular in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands and as Popular Community Bank in the United States, is a financial services conglomerate that has been operating in Puerto Rico for almost 120 years and in the United States for over 52 years. In recent years, it has expanded into other areas of the Caribbean 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, Banco Popular North America, E-Loan, and several other companies.
The headquarters of Banco Popular Puerto Rico are located in Hato Rey, Puerto Rico.
The bank was founded in Puerto Rico in 1893 when the island was still under Spanish administration, and was led in its early stages by Rafael Carrión, Sr.
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. By buying this bank, Popular entered the credit-card industry.
During the following decades, Banco Popular put a lot of emphasis on the company's public image. It was during the 1980s, after Rafael Carrion, Sr.'s death, that Richard L. Carrión took over 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.
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 they had yet to succeed in.
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.
...
Wikipedia