Banco de Ponce
| Company type | Personal loans |
|---|
Banco de Ponce was the
Banco Popular
forming BancPonce Corporation.
History
.jpg)
The bank was founded on 20 August 1917, in
Mario Mercado, Amador Torres, Manuel Meiriño, Augusto Quiñones, Francisco Oliver, Antonio Morales, Juan Colón, José de Jesús, Francisco Forteza and Cándido Noriega.[1][2] It had a prosperous start and in 1924[3] it built its main office in downtown Ponce. Architecturally, the downtown structure was so prominent that it would eventually get listed as historic in the National Register of Historic Places.[4]
The Bank continued its growth and by 1961 it already had offices and branches in New York City. By 1989, it had the largest number of branches of any Puerto Rican bank in mainland United States[5] and was the largest Hispanic bank in the United States by deposits.[6]
In 1990, Banco de Ponce merged with
Banco Popular creating Puerto Rico's largest bank. Upon the merge, Banco Popular's holding company changed its name to BanPonce Corporation. At the time of the merger, Banco de Ponce had nine branches in New York to Popular's six. With this merge the new company became one of the top ten commercial banks in Latin America and one of the top fifty banks in the United States of America.[7]
Headquarters
In 1970, Banco de Ponce built a prominent
Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, who had it renamed "WesternBank World Plaza".[10] With the 30 April 2010 failure of Westernbank, Banco Popular bought Westernbank's assets, but not the former Banco de Ponce Milla de Oro tower.[11][12] In June 2012, the government of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico announced it had purchased the Milla de Oro tower to headquarter the Puerto Rico Department of Justice.[13]
It is now (2019) called the "World Plaza Building".
Motto
The bank's 1960s-1970s motto was "...El Banco de Puerto Rico" ("...Puerto Rico's Bank") and also "El Banco de Puerto Rico que se da a querer" ("Puerto Rico's Bank that's loved ").[14]
See also
References
- ^ Fundación Puertorriqueña de las Humanidades. Ponce Ciudad Museo 2001. 2001. p. 79.
- ^ Municipios / Ponce, Antiguo Banco de Ponce. Archived 3 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine Encyclopedia Puerto Rico. Retrieved 29 June 2012.
- ISBN 0-8130-1293-7. The University Press of Florida. 1994. Page 229. Retrieved 29 June 2012.
- ^ United States Dept of the Interior, National Park Service. National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form, Banco de Ponce. Number 87001003. (May 19, 1987) Page 3.
- ^ Talking Deals; Bank Merger Plan Stirs Puerto Rico. Keith Bradsher. The New York Times. 13 July 1989. Accessed 8 May 2016.
- ^ New York's Thriving Hispanic Banks. Larry other. The New York Times. 11 August 1985. Accessed 8 May 2016.
- ISBN 0-9650185-0-4.
- ^ Justicia en la Milla de Oro. CyberNews. Noticel. 29 May 2012. Retrieved 29 June 2012.
- ^ Justicia en la Milla de Oro. CyberNews. Noticel. 29 May 2012. Retrieved 29 June 2012.
- ^ Justicia en la Milla de Oro. CyberNews. Noticel. 29 May 2012. Retrieved 29 June 2012.
- ^ {Departmento de} Justicia {de Puerto Rico} en la Milla de Oro. CyberNews. Noticel. 29 May 2012. Retrieved 9 July 2013.
- ^ Calma y expectación en los bancos bajo la mira. Andrea Martinez. El Nuevo Dia. 30 April 2010. Retrieved 29 June 2012.
- ^ Justicia en la Milla de Oro. CyberNews. Noticel. 29 May 2012. Retrieved 29 June 2012.
- ^ Puerto Rico's 1960s-1970s memorabilia: Banco de Ponce matchbooks. Accessed 19 November 2020.