Banco de Ponce was the
Puerto Rican bank with the largest number of branches in the
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
and second largest bank in deposits and number of branches in
Puerto Rico
; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...
during the twentieth century. Founded in
Ponce, Puerto Rico
Ponce ( , , ) is a city and a Municipalities of Puerto Rico, municipality on the southern coast of Puerto Rico. The most populated city outside the San Juan, Puerto Rico, San Juan metropolitan area, Ponce was founded on August 12, 1692Some publ ...
, in the early part of the century, it headquartered in
San Juan San Juan, Spanish for Saint John (disambiguation), Saint John, most commonly refers to:
* San Juan, Puerto Rico
* San Juan, Argentina
* San Juan, Metro Manila, a highly urbanized city in the Philippines
San Juan may also refer to:
Places Arge ...
in 1970 and, 20 years later, merged with
Banco Popular forming BancPonce Corporation.
History
The bank was founded on 20 August 1917, in
Ponce, Puerto Rico
Ponce ( , , ) is a city and a Municipalities of Puerto Rico, municipality on the southern coast of Puerto Rico. The most populated city outside the San Juan, Puerto Rico, San Juan metropolitan area, Ponce was founded on August 12, 1692Some publ ...
, by
Mario Mercado, Amador Torres, Manuel Meiriño, Augusto Quiñones,
Francisco Oliver, Antonio Morales, Juan Colón, José de Jesús,
Francisco Forteza and Cándido Noriega. It had a prosperous start and in 1924 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.
The Bank continued its growth and by 1961 it already had offices and branches in
New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
. By 1989, it had the largest number of branches of any Puerto Rican bank in mainland United States and was the largest Hispanic bank in the United States by deposits.
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
Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...
and one of the top fifty banks in the United States of America.
Headquarters
In 1970, Banco de Ponce built a prominent
landmark
A landmark is a recognizable natural or artificial feature used for navigation, a feature that stands out from its near environment and is often visible from long distances.
In modern-day use, the term can also be applied to smaller structures ...
building in San Juan
Milla de Oro
Milla de Oro ( English for ''Golden Mile'') is the main financial district of San Juan, the capital municipality of Puerto Rico. Concentrated in the sections of Juan Ponce de León Avenue and ''Luis Muñoz Rivera Avenue'' that cross from north to ...
financial district, where it formed its headquarters. The concave curvilinear structure consisted of a 23-story corporate tower, 424,900 square feet of space, and parking for 1,375 vehicles. With the 1990 merger with Banco Popular, the Banco de Ponce Milla de Oro building became part of the new BanPonce Corporation. In early 2002, the Milla de Oro building was sold to
WesternBank
The W Holding Company was a financial holding corporation located in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico. On April 30, 2010, Westernbank, its wholly owned bank subsidiary, failed and its deposits and assets were seized by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corpo ...
,
Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, who had it renamed "WesternBank World Plaza". 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. 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. 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 "'').
[Puerto Rico's 1960s-1970s memorabilia: Banco de Ponce matchbooks. Accessed 19 November 2020.]
See also
*
Banco de Ponce (building)
The Banco de Ponce building, a historic building in Ponce, Puerto Rico, was the first and main office of Banco de Ponce until the company merged with Banco Popular in 1990. Though its headquarters had moved to a presumptuous building in Hato ...
References
External links
Photo of Banco de Ponce's former headquarters in San Juan
Matchbooks with Banco de Ponce logoArchived
{{Coord, 18, 0, 39.82, N, 66, 36, 47.74, W, region:US-PR, display=title
Banks of Puerto Rico
Banks established in 1917
1917 establishments in Puerto Rico
Companies based in Ponce, Puerto Rico
Defunct banks of insular areas of the United States
Defunct companies of Puerto Rico