The bank showed investor increases in profitability, loans held and deposits, and will continue with their strategy to buy back stock
The investors’ call with the top executives of Banco Popular (BPPR) started discussing the announcement that bank president and CEO, Javier Ferrer, will be retiring, and the meeting went on with the top executives presenting positive numbers for the second financial quarter (Q2) of 2026.
The outgoing CEO confirmed that his decision to step away from leading BPPR, which he described as bittersweet, is related to health matters and described the day as beautiful but hard. While Jorge García, the current Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Ferrer’s successor, emotionally noted that this was the last investors call and press roundtable that the duo will do together.
This morning as part of the financial disclosures that BPPR, which trades on the NASDAQ under the ticker BPOP, announced that Ferrer would be retiring on August 31. The press release also indicated that García would succeed Ferrer, leading Lidio Soriano, the current Chief Risk Officer, to become CFO, effective Sept. 1.
As with the press release prior to the call, Ferrer argued that his team has created momentum for the bank and mentioned that the Q2 income of $278 million, which is a $68 million increase when compared with last year’s second quarter and a $32 million increase when compared with the first quarter of the year.
García described Q2 as a strong quarter that outperformed expectations and highlighted that Return on Tangible Common Equity (ROTCE) percentage increased from 15.5 percent in the first quarter of the year to 17 percent this year. The ROTCE is an indicator of how effective a bank is at making profits. BPPR’s ROTCE percentage is similar to institutions like Bank of America.
García also explained that the dip in consumer deposit was to be expected as it’s following the seasonal rhythms, as people spend what they received from their tax returns. Overall, however, Banco Popular saw an increase in deposits of $2.6 billion.
Buybacks and loans
Investors were also focusing on BPPR’s capital actions strategy, specifically the continuation of stock repurchasing or buybacks plans, as well as with the status of the loans. Since 2024, BPPR implemented a strategy of repurchasing stock, the bank has repourchased $1 billion in common stock and this year approved an additional $1 billion of stock buybacks.
For 2026, the bank has repurchased $280 million of stock. Ferrer explained during the roundtable that they are not in a rush to spend the $1 billion dollars and that the projections for 2026 is to spend around $300 to $400 million in repurchasing stock. Garcia for his part explained that this is a way to produce capital for stockholders, and that the bank also increased the dividend that shareholders received.
Representatives of institutional shareholders also had questions about loans. The loans held in the portfolio increased by $300 million for Banco Popular in Puerto Rico and $160 million for their operation in the mainland U.S. and other jurisdictions. Both locally and in the US, commercial loans remain the largest sector, while auto loans was the only segment that decreased.
In the case of Puerto Rico, the increase in capital projects that could result in large loans may slow down until election season.
“ In Puerto Rico over the last few years and including in the second quarter we benefited from some large ticket loans. And if we look at the pipeline, while there’s still a lot of activity and a lot of good opportunities, we do see fewer of those large ticket loans,” García recognized.
But added, “As we look maybe further out, we do expect, probably more spending in public works or infrastructure projects as we approach a political, you know, an election year in twenty twenty-eight.”
