Condensed consolidating financial information of guarantor and issuers of registered guaranteed securities - Additional Information (Detail) (USD $) In Millions, unless otherwise specified	Mar. 31, 2015	Dec. 31, 2014
Banco Popular De Puerto Rico [Member]
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Statutory Accounting Practices Statutory Amount Available For Dividend Payments With Regulatory Approval	$ 402	$ 542
Bpna [Member]
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Statutory Accounting Practices Statutory Amount Available For Dividend Payments With Regulatory Approval	$ 0	$ 0

Amount of dividends that can be declared or paid with approval of regulatory agency.

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef

-Publisher FASB

-Name Accounting Standards Codification

-Topic 235

-SubTopic 10

-Section S99

-Paragraph 1

-Subparagraph (SX 210.4-08.(e))

-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=26873400&loc=d3e23780-122690

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef

-Publisher SEC

-Name Regulation S-X (SX)

-Number 210

-Section 08

-Paragraph e

-Article 4

Name:	us-gaap_StatutoryAccountingPracticesStatutoryAmountAvailableForDividendPaymentsWithRegulatoryApproval
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant