Popular, Inc. is the parent company of: Banco Popular de Puerto Rico, Banco Popular North America, Evertec, E-Loan, and several other companies.

History

The bank was founded in Puerto Rico in 1893 and was led in its early stages by Rafael Carrion, 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.

1990s

The following decade started with a big development for the bank, when in 1990 it merged with Banco de Ponce, one the largest banks in Puerto Rico. At this time, Banco Popular de Puerto Rico changed its name to BanPonce.

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.

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 Santander Securities. 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.

It was during this time that the company divided itself into three main subsidiary companies: Banco Popular de Puerto Rico, with David Chafey, Jr. as its current president; Banco Popular North America, with Roberto Herencia as the current president; and Evertec, with Felix Villamil as its current president. Richard Carrión remained as president and CEO of the parent company, Popular, Inc.

Evertec was born after the purchase of the GM Group. The main purpose of Evertec is to serve as a processing company (related to the ATM network, card processes, POS, and other technical details). Evertec is not limited to Banco Popular, as it also serves other banks in the island. This subsidiary also maintains Popular's overseas networks (specially in ATH Dominicana and ATH Costa Rica).

In the 24 January 2005 issue of Fortune Magazine, Popular, Inc. was chosen as one of the 100 Best Companies to Work For.

On 11 April 2005, an agreement was announced between Banco Popular North America and the New York Mets. Under the five-year agreement, Popular will operate seven ATMs and display various advertisements at Shea Stadium.

Present

Its main headquarters are located in the San Juan Hato Rey business district, on the avenue more commonly known as La Milla de Oro ("The Golden Mile") because of the abundance of several other bank headquarters located there. Travellers who fly into the Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport can observe Banco Popular's main building.

Popular is currently the largest bank in Puerto Rico, the largest company (public or private) in Puerto Rico, and the largest Hispanic bank in the United States. It is classified as one of the top 100 banks nationwide. Its subsidiaries are also considered top-rated, with a customer base that grows each year.

Recently, Popular updated its web site to be more user-friendly, with services such as SMS warnings for account balances (both from Popular and other banks), online payments for their products, other companies, and the state government (including credit cards with other banks, water utility bills, electricity bills, among others), credit card forms, and more. Banco Popular also released its new ad campaign: "En Mi Banco Se Puede" ("In my bank it's possible"), along with a series of aggressive ads targeting non-customers, consumers that have left the bank, or current customers who are starting to consider leaving the bank.

Stats

Ranked the 784th Largest Company In The World by Forbes (2006).
Ranked the 84th Best Company to Work For by Fortune Magazine (2005).
Has over $45 billion in assets.
Approx. 13,000 employees.
Symbol: BPOP (Nasdaq)