Note Employee benefits (Information Popular Inc. shares of common stock held by the plans) (Detail) - USD ($)	12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2015	Dec. 31, 2014
Defined Benefit Plan, Plan Assets at Fair Value, Valuation Techniques and Inputs [Abstract]
Shares of Popular, Inc. common stock	275,996	274,572
Fair value of shares of Popular, Inc. common stock	$ 7,821,713	$ 9,349,177
Dividends paid on shares of Popular, Inc. common stock held by the plan	$ 41,399	$ 0

Dividends eceived on related party securities in employer benefit plan

No definition available.

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Namespace Prefix:	bpop_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

The amount of employer securities or securities of parties related to the employer that are included in plan assets.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 715
-SubTopic 20
-Section 50
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (n)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=35743120&loc=d3e1928-114920

+ Details

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Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

The number of employer shares or related party shares included in plan assets.

+ References

+ Details

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Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:sharesItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

- References

No definition available.

+ Details

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Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
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