Richard Carrión, Exec Chairman

Popular, Inc., doing business as Banco Popular in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands and as Popular Community Bank in the mainland United States, is a financial services conglomerate that has been operating in Puerto Rico for almost 120 years and in the mainland 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, San Juan, 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.

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.

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.

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 operated seven ATMs and displayed various advertisements at Shea Stadium. until it closed in September 2008, in favour of the new Citi Field.

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.

Banco 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.

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.

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 to cut costs and shore up its reserves against losses caused by foreclosures and the recession in Puerto Rico. Popular decided to sell its branches in central Florida, Illinois, and southern California. After the sales, Popular Community Bank would retain 49 branches in southern 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, 20 branches of Popular Community Bank in southern California will be sold to Banc of California in Irvine.

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 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:

Online Discography

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