A Criollo Financial Conglomerate in the Caribbean

Founded in 1894 by the Carrión family, Banco Popular de Puerto Rico is one of the very few institutions of criollo capitalism that survived the transition from Spanish colonialism to US neo-colonialism. With the presence of over 15 commercial and personal banks on an island of 4 million people, BPPR now reigns supreme and is the principal catalyst of neoliberal policies in Puerto Rico, especially during the large privatization episodes of the 1990s. Richard Carrión, CEO President until spring 2004, was mainly responsible for the modernization, diversification and expansion of this, the Caribbean’s most powerful autochthonous economic institution, a financial holding corporation with more than US$35.8 billion in assets with operations in Puerto Rico, the US and Latin America. Reaching a conglomerate position is, therefore, quite recent. But while following global trends of diversified banking and embarking upon sectors like real estate, auto sales and rentals, multiple insurances and investments, BPPR has defied the laws of traditional imperialism. With its expansion, not only among countries surrounding Puerto Rico, like the Dominican Republic, but also in the continental USA - serving the Puerto Rican diasporas and large Hispanic communities of New York, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and Chicago - this economic conglomerate of the world’s oldest colony is actually absorbing local US banks facing trouble. Thinking towards the future, any foreign, more powerful bank willing and able to absorb this economic conglomerate will actually end up positioning itself as a hegemonic presence in the Caribbean’s most productive region.