The purpose of this section is not to document the history of banking in Puerto Rico but mainly that of its beginnings and its relation to the sugar, coffee and tobacco industries covered in this website. The negative effect that the lack of a local currency and of a bank of issue had on the development of the local economy and the struggles to establish a financial institution during the Spanish colonial days, are highlighted herein due to their importance in the economic development of the island during the Spanish colonial period. It is also the purpose to document in pictures some of the structures that housed these banking institutions in their beginnings. The 20th Century, especially the second half, saw many financial institutions operating in Puerto Rico many of which are no longer in existence, a list including the date they were established, their date of closure and final resolution is itemized below.

The brief history of the first financial institutions established on the island in 1877 and of the four commercial banks that were operating on the island at the time of the change in sovereignty in 1898, highlights the late establishment of a structured banking system in Puerto Rico during the Spanish Colonial days and underscores the reason for the island’s long time stagnant economy. The influence and importance that the sugar, coffee and tobacco industries had in the establishment of these banks, cannot be overlooked as with the only possible exception of Banco Popular, all were organized by people related to agriculture and established to serve the agricultural industry.

In April 1765 King Charles III of Spain sent Field Marshall Alejandro O’Reilly (1723-1794) to Puerto Rico to inspect the condition at the island and report ways of improving the island’s military defenses and its economy. Until the Royal Order of July 18, 1765 that abolished tax on grains and established the right to freely trade in agricultural commodities, the colonies could trade only with Seville until 1715 and then with Cádiz using only Spanish vessels. Due to these restrictions, O’Reilly noted in his Memoirs the existence of a substantial illegal commerce or contraband trade often overlooked by the authorities. O’Reilly’s memoirs are identified by some historians as the turning point of the island’s economy, until then one of modest landlords and subsistence farmers and illegal trade with neighboring foreign colonies. Although O’Reilly promoted large scale agriculture, his proposed reforms were late in coming due to several factors including the lack of manual labor, capital and financing sources.

Between 1814 and 1898 forty two different applications to create a bank in Puerto Rico were submitted to the Spanish Crown, who in order to protect influential interests on the island and in the metropolis, authorized only one in 1865 and eight between 1865 and 1898. Until 1865 farmers had no available sources of credit to purchase slave labor, new machinery and finance their crops other than foreign manufacturers, local merchant banking firms and private individuals all who charged very high interest rates. It was not until 1888 that a much needed commercial bank with the capability to issue notes was authorized. In addition to unavailable credit sources, the lack of a stable currency, the lack of products for export as a source of currency and the lack of a monetary system with a reliable legal tender made it even more difficult for the local economy to develop.

In the early days as a Spanish colony, the local economy could not generate enough products for export nor enough tax income for the government to pay for all its expenses. Based on the provisions of a Royal Decree in 1582, in order to pay the salaries of government employees and soldiers, to pay for the construction of military installations as well as to cover the aforesaid deficit, starting in 1587 a subsidy transferred from the chests of the Viceroyalty of New Spain called the “Mexican Situado” was the only currency used on the island. However, the amount of these transfers was unpredictable and their frequency erratic and never contributed to the development of a monetary system in Puerto Rico. When the Situado ended in 1810 due to Mexico gaining its independence from Spain, Puerto Rico fell into a period of economic deterioration due to the lack of a monetary system that could support the most basic economic transactions.

To provide a solution to the non-existence of a legal tender, the government of Puerto Rico issued a provisional paper money which value was subject to a quick and substantial devaluation. Intendant Alejandro Ramirez arrived in Puerto Rico from Guatemala on February 11, 1813 as the newly appointed Administrator of the Royal Treasury. That same year, Ramirez convinced then Governor-General Salvador Meléndez Bruna to authorize the use of the better quality money called the Peso Macuquino, a coin minted in the South American Colony of Tierra Firme to substitute and eliminate the provisional paper money issued. The Peso Macuquino was in use until 1857 when it was ordered to be exchanged for the Provincial Peso, silver or gold coins minted in Spain. This exchange imposed a 12.5% devaluation of the Peso Macuquino, one of the reasons why the totality of the exchange never happened. To mitigate the monetary issues, the circulation of the Mexican Peso was authorized in 1879 and in 1894 the Ministerio de Ultramar authorized the minting of silver coins for Puerto Rico. A total 6.6 million pesos of provincial silver coins were introduced into the economy of the island which were exchanged rapidly and easily at 95¢ of the new Provincial Peso for every Mexican Peso. However the life of this currency was short lived due to the change in sovereignty in 1898.

Towards the end of the 19th Century, mainly due to the lack of available currency and to some extent due to the level of indebtedness of landowners and the lack of credit sources, sugar and mainly coffee farmers or “hacendados” saw the need to issue tokens or as they were known locally “riles”, to pay their workers. The tokens were for all practical purposes a private form of currency, some minted abroad and some very rudimentary locally produced coins. Some of the tokens were only redeemable at a “company store” and a limited number of them were accepted by others as a form of payment. This system lasted until the change of sovereignty in 1898.

The first banking office in Puerto Rico was a branch office of the London based Colonial Bank, created in 1836 by Royal Decree to serve the British West Indies. After opening branches in Barbados, Trinidad and British Guiana, a petition to open a bank of issue in Puerto Rico was filed in 1837 by Scot James Macqueen on behalf of the Colonial Bank. The application was denied on June 9, 1837 due to the negative recommendations of the Bank of San Fernando and the Boards of Trade of Madrid, Cataluña and Cádiz. A reconsideration request was filed detailing all the benefits of such an office which was again denied on August 24, 1837. Despite the fate of its initial application, late in 1837 an office of the Colonial Bank was opened in San Juan with Richard David Jacob as its chief officer. Jacob had received his letter of domicile which authorized him to do business on the island. However, a Royal Order of February 22, 1840 changed the rules and required any foreigner that wanted to do business in Puerto Rico to be naturalized in order to do so. Then Governor-General Santiago Méndez de Vigo notified Jacob he could not continue to operate the bank’s office in San Juan and gave him all the necessary time to close down its operations. Despite the allegations by the English Ambassador in Madrid that many foreigners were allowed to do business in Puerto Rico with only their letter of domicile, the office of the Colonial Bank in San Juan shut down in 1842.

During the approval process of the Colonial Bank application, the report of the Puerto Rico Board of Trade on October 3, 1838 and of then Governor-General Miguel López de Baños on November 6, 1838 recommended the establishment of a bank of issue, the denial of the application by the Colonial Bank and the implementation of the recommendations by the Bank of San Fernando to regulate future claims by a foreigner, individual or institution, to participate in the island’s financial activities. The Board of Commerce proposed the approval of a bank of issue be granted to Sidney Mason, owner of Hacienda Union and US Consul-General in San Juan. About Mason, the Board of Trade said;

“his name provides many guarantees and enjoys all the rights and privileges of a Spaniard, he manages a vast business as a private agent...the Board considers him more capable of founding a bank than any other of our known capitalists,…the establishment that he currently runs can become a formal bank (as it has already been for some time) with little effort, being the only one who has shown the greatest knowledge to undertake a work of such benefit to the public…”.

Obviously, except for the denial of the Colonial Bank application, these recommendations were never adopted.

The Banco Español de la Habana, in 1881 renamed Banco Español de la Isla de Cuba, was an authorized currency issuing bank established in 1856, which in addition enjoyed the assistance of the Spanish government in periods of domestic crisis like the economic crisis of 1857 and the Ten Years War (1868-1878). Contrary to Cuba, in Puerto Rico an issuing bank was not authorized by the Spanish government until 1888. In 1865 however, the first pseudo banking institutions were established in Puerto Rico. These were savings institutions labeled as “Caja de Ahorro” never authorized by the Spanish government and not in any form a commercial bank with lending capabilities or currency issuing powers of which all but one did not last long.

The first Caja de Ahorro established was the Caja de Ahorros San Juan Bautista, opened in 1865 on the first floor of the San Juan City Hall. Its closure in 1879 was due to the bankruptcy of Leonardo Igaravidez and his Central San Vicente to whom at the time of his bankruptcy, loans with outstanding balance of some 182,000 pesos or almost 80% of deposits had been extended in violation of its bylaws that limited loans to any one individual to 1,000 pesos.

The Caja de Ahorros de Ponce was established in 1872 with Francisco Barnés as President. In 1901 it merged with Crédito y Ahorro Ponceño when, as stated by Manuel Mayoral Barnés in his book Ponce y su Historia, it could not withstand the economic crisis brought about by low sugar prices. In 1874 the Caja de Ahorros de Mayagüez was established with Ramón Nadal Cuevas (1837-1884) as its president, it is not clear when it closed for business but it is generally accepted it did so because it could not compete with the Banco Español branch office established in 1891.

The Caja de Economías y Préstamos de San Germán was established in 1881 by Tomás Ramirez Quiñones. Its first board of directors was comprised of Pedro Pujals, H. López Quiñones, Rodolfo Dávila, José Vicente Quiñones, Nicolás Agrait, Juan Pasapera and Félix Garmendía Díaz. It was the only one of the cajas de ahorro that evolved into a commercial bank and had a long existence. In 1898 it became the Banco Caja de Economías y Préstamos, renamed later Banco de Economías y Préstamos. Its main office remained in San German until 1973 when Jorge Colón Nevares (1935-2009) succeeded Ernesto Quiñones Sambolin (1910-1993) owner of Hacienda El Coto, as chairman of the board. Under Colón Nevares, who was a resident of San Juan, the main offices were moved to San Juan and renamed Banco Economías. In 1977 Spain’s Banco Central Hispano with headquarters in Madrid acquired the bank and renamed it Banco Central y Economías and in 1992 changed the name to Banco Central Hispano. In February 1996 Banco Central de Madrid decided to cease its operations in Puerto Rico and its assets on the island were acquired by Banco de Santander PR, a preview of the merger of the two Spanish institutions in 1999. In October 2019 Spain’s Banco de Santander decided to cease operations in Puerto Rico and on January 9, 2020 the operations on the island of Banco Santander PR were acquired by First Bank.

The first commercial banking institution with private capital authorized to operate in Puerto Rico was the Sociedad Anónima de Crédito Mercantil which opened for business on May 16, 1877, however, despite its request to do so, it was not authorized to issue notes. It was the idea of José Ramón Fernandez Marqués de La Esperanza (1808-1883), owner of Hacienda Esperanza. Others involved in its founding were the estate of George B. Latimer (1803-1874) and former Mayor of Mayagüez Manuel Prats who were its majority stockholders. The bulk of its shareholders were sugar planters and manufacturers who had received a windfall related to the abolition of slavery in 1873. The initial plan of the government was to compensate the owners of approximately twenty nine thousand slaves who were given their freedom with cash totaling 7 million pesos. The government could not come up with the funds, so in turn issued seventy thousand, 6% sixteen year bonds of 100 pesos each. These bonds were subject to a quick depreciation when the government could not pay their interest on time, so the bond holders that were interested exchanged the bonds for shares of the Crédito Mercantil, who in turn would collect the interest payments from the government.

One of the forty two petitions mentioned above presented to the government for the establishment of a bank with issuing capabilities was a comprehensive one in 1873 by Wenceslao Borda Rueda (1842-1914) with the backing of French bankers[1]. This proposal which included the promise to establish several central sugar mills and funding the government so it could pay the 7 million pesos to former slave owners, never prospered even though the French bankers did get to by some 30,000 pesos worth of the bonds issued. In September 1885 a proposal was submitted by Leonce Bloch Heiman managing director of the Banque Transatlantique, attorney and politician José María Escoriaza de Cardona (1833-1920) and José A. Silva a local businessman. The proposal was initially looked upon favorably but the Spanish government delayed acting upon it because of the fact that Escoriaza and Silva were associated with the separatist movement of Ramón Emeterio Betances and it was reluctant to put the monetary autonomy of the island in the hands of a French institution. By Royal Decree of March 23, 1887 the Spanish government finally authorized the creation of a bank of issue and discount in Puerto Rico. By Royal Decree of May 5, 1888 approval of the creation of the Banco Español de Puerto Rico was given to a proposal filed by former Governor-General Eulogio Despujol y Dusay and Francisco Lastres y Juiz on behalf of Pablo Ubarri Capetillo, Guillermo L. Maasen Müllenhoff, Manuel Vicente y Rodriguez, Enrique Vijande Loredo and José Caldas Caldas, shareholders of the Sociedad Anónima de Crédito Mercantil. The Royal Decree specifically stated the approval of a twenty five year charter was granted to persons represented by Despujol and Lastres individually and not as agents of the Sociedad Anónima de Crédito Mercantil. Therefore, to raise the required capital, Crédito Mercantil was dissolved and its capital accounts distributed to its members who in turn would subscribe to shares in the new bank.

The Banco Español de Puerto Rico opened for business on February 1, 1890 at 152 Tetuán St. in Old San Juan with Fernando Fragoso Lugo as governor and José Manuel López Sainz as vice governor and Carlos María Soler Martorell (1845-1917) as secretary and Spanish immigrant from the Basque Country Pablo Ubarri Capetillo (1824-1894) as its chief officer. In 1891 an agency was established in Mayagüez which in 1894 became a full branch . The notes issued by the bank were well accepted by the general public and contributed to the increase in money supply. The new source of credit for farmers and merchants in general lowered the on-going interest rates, up to that point the exclusive domain of merchant bankers. Its operations were simplified in 1895 when the island’s new currency or the “Provincial Peso” replaced the Mexican Peso, eliminating the anomaly of having in circulation coins from two different countries.

Operations ran smoothly and the bank prospered but the war for independence in Cuba, the economic crisis of 1897, the low price of sugar and coffee, the US invasion in 1898 and Hurricane San Ciriaco in 1899 all affected the bank’s operating results. Its notes lost the public’s confidence and many had to be redeemed in silver and gold coins and its balance sheet contracted due to a substantial drop in deposits. All commercial lending activities were halted and credit quality suffered as customers were unable to meet their loan obligations and the value of collateral assets became insufficient to cover the loans they secured.

Uncertainty ensued with the change of sovereignty and the new rules the bank was subject to, the end of its note issuing capability and the conversion of the peso to the dollar which was finally set at 1.66 peso for US $1. The bank’s capacity to issue notes was something the new authorities were unfamiliar with and unheard of in the US banking system. Confidence was more or less normalized with the appointment on October 17, 1899 of John Dandridge Henley Luce (1855-1921) as bank governor while Carlos Soler continued in his job as deputy director. The Organic Act of 1900 required the exchange of provincial currency for US Dollars but did not include the notes issued by Banco Español which continued in circulation. However, they were not legal tender so their value and use was very limited.

In June 1900 the Banco Español was authorized to exchange its capital from provincial pesos to dollars and to include non Spaniards as directors, it also allowed the bank to change its name which it did to Banco de Puerto Rico. In 1905, as the result of an audit by Haskins & Sells ordered by William F. Willoughby, head of the island’s treasury, the bank underwent a series of accounting adjustments in accordance to generally accepted account standards in the US non existent in Puerto Rico before 1898. On November 1905 Manuel Paniagua replaced John D. H. Luce as bank governor. In 1906 sugar and coffee prices began to recover, exports increased and the economic instability on the island was more or less normalized and so did the bank’s operations. From then on the bank enjoyed a period of prosperity until its closure in 1913 due to the end of its charter.

Not necessarily due to its origin as a Spanish bank but to its issue capabilities, its charter would not be renewed by the US authorities upon expiration on May 5, 1913. A committee was established to manage the liquidation of the bank’s $2.4 million in assets and liabilities which work was concluded in 1925. Before the expiration of its charter, in order to continue the operations of Banco de Puerto Rico, the Banco Comercial de Puerto Rico opened its doors on November 1, 1912 with Manuel Paniagua as its organizer, incorporator and first president. In 1925 the Banco Comercial de Puerto Rico managed by Charles Lawton, had offices in San Juan, Mayagüez, Humacao, Aguadilla, Arecibo, Bayamón and Cayey and concentrated mostly in financing the tobacco industry. In 1930 the bank began experiencing a continuous reduction in its deposit accounts so, short on cash, it defaulted on obligations it had with New York banks and was placed in receivership by the District Court of San Juan who appointed Rafael Carrion Pacheco as receiver. Despite all the efforts made to save the institution, withdrawals continued so Banco Comercial had to close its doors on October 17, 1931.

The Banco Popular de Economías y Préstamos was the second bank authorized to operate in Puerto Rico, incorporated on November 10, 1893 by fifty two founding members/shareholders with an initial capital of 5,000 Mexican Pesos. The following month, its initial Board of Directors was elected with Manuel Muñoz Barrios as Chief Officer, Geronimo Agrait as Secretary, Grato Tinaud as Treasurer and Eduardo López Cepero, Alberto Diaz Mor, Manuel Fernández Juncos and Justo M. Izquierdo as Directors. The bank opened its doors on January 4, 1894 in a space next to the G. Tinaud Jewelry Store in a building since demolished at the corner of Rafael Cordero St. and San José St. in the southwest corner of the Plaza Mayor today Plaza de Armas. A year later the bank moved across the Plaza de Armas to a space on the west side of the ground floor of San Juan City Hall previously occupied by the Caja de Ahorros San Juan Bautista. On October 11, 1920 the bank moved to new facilities at the corner of San Justo St. and Tetuán St. right in front of the new Bank of Nova Scotia Building. In 1923 to comply with the newly adopted banking law, Banco Popular de Economías y Préstamos shareholders approved establishing a new corporate entity called Banco Popular de Puerto Rico to continue the operations until then carried out by the Banco Popular de Economías y Préstamos.

The Banco Territorial y Agricola was established on July 2, 1894 at the corner of Tetuan St. and San Justo St. by a group of people related to the agricultural industry to cater the long and short term financing needs of the coffee, sugar and tobacco industries but mainly the coffee industry. An ad in the Puerto Rico Herald edition of June 2, 1902 lists Spanish immigrant from Biáñez, Vizcaya in the Basque Country Pedro Santisteban Chavarri (1847-1915) as President, Wenceslao Bosch as Vice President and Vicente Antonetti as General Manager. In 1928 its finances were negatively affected by the damage caused to the coffee industry by Hurricane San Felipe. In 1930 the board of directors of Banco Popular approved a proposed merger between Banco Popular, Banco Territorial y Agricola, and Banco Comercial de Puerto Rico but the deal was not approved by the other two. Still trying to recover, the bank could not overcome the devastation caused Hurricane San Ciprián and had to close down its doors on September 29, 1932 and put on receivership the following October 29 when Herman Cochran and Rafael Carrion Pacheco were appointed receivers.

Crédito y Ahorro Ponceño, as was its name at inception, was incorporated on February 10, 1895 with a total capital of 415,102 silver pesos. It was established in Ponce, at the time the second largest and most prosperous city on the island by former Ponce mayor Ulpiano Colom , Francisco Parra Duperón who was its first president, Ermelindo Salazar who was both a director and later president, Lucas Amadeo, Antonio Frías, Juan Gillet, Luis Muñoz Rivera, Francisco Lluch Barrera mayor of Yauco and coffee farmer owner of Hacienda Engracia, Pedro J. Pietri owner of Hacienda Salvación, Antonio Pérez Guerra and Rafael Collazo owners of Hacienda Carmelita and Hacienda Semil . In 1924 Francisco Porrata Doria designed a new office building at the Plaza Muñoz Rivera and Callejón del Amor pictured below which was its main office until 1965 when the main office was moved to San Juan. Banco Crédito y Ahorro Ponceño or Banco Crédito as it was commonly known, was for many years the second largest bank in Puerto Rico. Its better known presidents were Esteban “Chilo” Bird, Angel Sanz and Angel M. Rivera former secretary of the treasury department of Puerto Rico, and its chairman Alfonso Valdés owner of Cervecería India. On March 31, 1978 burdened by a large portfolio of non performing loans in real estate construction, it was shut down by the Treasury Department of Puerto Rico and its assets and liabilities assumed part by Banco de Santander Puerto Rico and part by Banco Popular in an FDIC assets assisted transaction.

At the time of the US occupation in 1898 there were only four banks operating in Puerto Rico, Banco Español de Puerto Rico, Banco Territorial y Agricola, Banco Popular and Crédito y Ahorro Ponceño. A section titled Financial Institutions by Manuel Paniagua in The Book of Puerto Rico, a compilation of different contributors published in 1923 to document the island’s development duting its first twenty five years under the American flag states;

“These four were the banks existing in Puerto Rico in 1898 when the change in sovereignty occurred, the annual disbursements of them all not reaching $1,500,000 by the end of that year. Their circulating bonds and bills issued reaching to about three millions; their deposits two and a half; and their loans to about four and a half millions, and the actual cash in their vaults to over three million dollars, which it could be asserted was the total cash in the island at the time. Such limited banking facilities were, nevertheless, in accordance with the actual needs. Commercially, everything was small, consequently, nothing big was needed. The greatest exportation of the island in those days was eighteen million provincial dollars, that is, over ten million dollars in United States money, consequently no more banks were necessary for such restricted commercial demands.”

After the US occupation, in September 1898 the first banking institution established on the island was DeFord & Co. of Boston. One of the partners in De Ford & Co. and its president in Puerto Rico at the same time he was president of Banco de Puerto Rico, was John Drandridge Henley Luce, also part of the original group of incorporators of Central Aguirre. Luce was the son of Stephen Luce and the husband of Louisa Davis whose sister Anna was the wife of the Senator from Massachusetts Henry Cabot Lodge. At Cabot Lodge’s recommendation President McKinley appointed DeFord & Co. the first fiscal agent in Puerto Rico, as such the depositary institution for all government funds. DeFord & Co. operated until 1903 when its name was changed to Luce, Crehore & Co. an as such operated on the island until 1909.

On April 15, 1899 a group from New York and New Jersey that included Edmund Pavenstedt, Edwin L. Arnold who was its cashier or general manager, Diedrich Guaff, Otto F. Kappelman and Franz Flagler established the American Colonial Bank of Porto Rico incorporated in West Virginia on leased premises at the Banco Territorial y Agricola building. On January 2, 1903 the First National Bank of Puerto Rico was established as a subsidiary of the American Colonial Bank, however, in 1910 it was merged into the American Colonial Bank. At a board of directors meeting on June 11, 1914 Herman L. Cochran, after thirteen years at the bank and at the time Assistant Cashier, was named Cashier. Ca. 1925 Rafael Carrion Pacheco became a member of the board of directors of the American Colonial Bank, this experience woke his interest in having his own bank thus he began buying shares of Banco Popular and by 1927 had become its sole majority stockholder. The book By Guillermo A. Baralt Tradition into the Future: The First Century of the Banco Popular de Puerto Rico details how Carrion Pacheco got involved in the Banco Popular and how he and later his family were instrumental in its development. In 1930 the American Colonial Bank was acquired by the First National City Bank of New York and Herman L. Cochran became president of the Puerto Rican branch .

On July 30, 1906 the Union Bank of Halifax was the first Canadian banking institution to establish an office on the island when it established a branch in Ponce. The second Canadian bank to establish an office in Puerto Rico was the Royal Bank of Canada. After it had tremendous success in its firs offshore venture in Cuba, in 1906 the Royal Bank of Canada announced its plans to open an office in Puerto Rico to participate in the financing of the sugar trade between the United States and Puerto Rico. In 1908 the Royal Bank of Canada opened an office in San Juan managed by Colin McRae. On September 17, 1910 the Union Bank of Halifax accepted a takeover bid by the Royal Bank of Canada and as a result Royal Bank acquired the Union Bank of Halifax branch in Ponce located at the corner of Atocha St. and Isabel St., facility that was later occupied by Banco Popular. The Royal Bank of Canada building in Old San Juan pictured below was built in 1912. In 1993 the Royal Bank decided to leave the island and its operations were acquired by Banco Bilbao Vizcaya. The third Canadian bank to establish an office on the island was the Bank of Nova Scotia on November 16, 1910, its building pictured below was designed by Antonin Nechodoma and built in 1920. Later known as Scotiabank de Puerto Rico, in 2019 it closed all its operations in Puerto Rico all of which were acquired by Oriental Bank.

n 1917 the Banco de San Germán was established at the Plaza de Santo Domingo on the opposite end from Porta Coeli Convent by Juan Angel Tió and officers of Crédito y Ahorro Ponceño who originally owned one half of its outstanding shares but later sold its participation. In 1959 Banco de San Germán agreed to merge with the much larger Banco Popular de Puerto Rico but the merger was not consummated because the Treasury Department of Puerto Rico did not approve it. In 1967 the offices of Banco de San German were set on fire in the midst of an audit requested by its president Aurelio Tió who suspected irregularities in its correspondent bank accounts. In the end and after a court battle, the embezzlement suspected by Tió was proven and covered by the banks’s Excess Bank Employee Dishonesty Blanket Bond. Banco de San Germán closed its doors in 1972 when acquired by Banco Popular.

Also on August 20, 1917 Banco de Ponce was established by a group of local residents that included Amador Torres Becerra, Manuel Meiriño, Augusto Quiñones, Francisco Oliver, Antonio Morales, Juan Colón, José de Jesús, Francisco Forteza, Cándido Noriega and Mario Mercado Montalvo owner of Central Rufina who was its first president. In 1924 Francisco Porrata Doria designed a new office building at the corner of Marina St. and Comercio St. pictured below where the original Puerta del Sol hardware store was located. In 1961 Banco de Ponce was the first Puerto Rican bank to open a branch office in New York, by 1970 it had six branches in the big apple. The most notable presidents of Banco de Ponce were Pedro Juan Rosaly and Roberto de Jesús Toro and its chairman Felix Juan “Fao” Serrallés Sanchez whose family owned Central Mercedita. Form many years Banco de Ponce was the third largest bank in Puerto Rico until 1990 when it was merged into Banco Popular.

On June 18, 1918 the First National City Bank of New York established an office in San Juan at the Finlay Bros. building and on June 29, 1918 the Masonic Bank (later the Banco Industrial de Puerto Rico) was established at 7 Tetuán St. by Dr. William F. Lippitt former secretary of the insular government department of health. Other banks were organized during those days, in 1919 the Banco de Yabucoa, in 1920 the Banco de Aguadilla and in 1922 the Roig Commercial Bank established by Antonio Roig Torrellas owner at different times of Central El Ejemplo, Central Juncos and Central Roig. By June 1931 the Banco Internacional de Puerto Rico in San Juan was in receivership and four other banks were placed in receivership that month, the Banco de Yabucoa, the Rivas Commercial Bank in Ponce, the Banco Industrial de Puerto Rico and the Banco de Economías del Pueblo also in Ponce.

Although with the same name but not related to the one that had closed down due to its Spanish charter in 1913, a new Banco de Puerto Rico was established on May 15, 1933 in the former Banco Territorial y Agricola building under the direction of the former American Colonial Bank and First National City Bank of New York president in Puerto Rico Herman L. Cochran. Its creation was in part to take over from its receivers the liquidation of the Banco Comercial de Puerto Rico which had closed its doors on October 17, 1931. It also took over the liquidation of Banco Territorial y Agricola when Cochran was named its receiver. In 1934 Rafael Carrion Pacheco agreed with Gabriel Emanuelli, president and largest stockholder in Banco de Puerto Rico, on a plan to merge the two institutions. After a group headed by Emanuelli completed the purchase of over 50% of the shares in Banco de Puerto Rico and its board authorized the merger, Carrion Pacheco personally bought all the shares from Emanuelli an his group and proceeded to merge Banco de Puerto Rico into Banco Popular de Puerto Rico, consolidation that took place on October 22, 1936.

During the 20th Century, many commercial banks, savings banks and savings & loan associations were organized in Puerto Rico. Some of the commercial banks listed below started as savings institutions and some of the savings & loans and savings banks started as mutual associations then converted to stock form of ownership. Some were shut down by the regulatory authorities due to financial insolvency and were acquired by other financial institutions and others were acquired and/or merged into US, Canadian and Spanish bank operations on the island. In 2024 there are no foreign retail commercial banks operating on the island and only three locally owned commercial banks; Banco Popular, Oriental Bank established in 1964 as Oriental Federal S&L Association and FirstBank founded in San Juan by Enrique Campos del Toro in 1948 as the First Federal S& Loan Association, the first savings & loan association on the island.

In addition to the only three commercial banks currently operating on the island mentioned above, many other financial institutions were established in Puerto Rico during the 20th Century, mainly during the second half. Following is a list of local, US and foreign banks and financial institutions established in Puerto Rico during that era that are no longer in operation. This list includes only retail banking operations and does not include credit unions, financial cooperatives and the twenty eight or so International Financial Entities and International Banking Entities operating under the International Financial Entity Act of 2012 and amended in 2024.