Transfers of financial assets and servicing assets - Fair value of purchased and originated MSRs, valuation assumptions and sensitivity (Details) - Residential Mortgage - USD ($) $ in Thousands	9 Months Ended	12 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2020	Dec. 31, 2019
Originated MSRs
Transfers of financial assets
Fair value of servicing rights	$ 47,684	$ 58,842
Weighted average life	6 years 3 months 18 days	6 years 8 months 12 days
Prepayment speed	6.40%	5.70%
Impact on fair value of 10% adverse change	$ (1,268)	$ (1,303)
Impact on fair value of 20% adverse change	$ (2,494)	$ (2,568)
Discount rate	11.40%	11.40%
Impact on fair value of 10% adverse change	$ (1,946)	$ (2,381)
Impact on fair value of 20% adverse change	(3,764)	(4,596)
Purchased MSRs
Transfers of financial assets
Fair value of servicing rights	$ 75,868	$ 92,064
Weighted average life	5 years 10 months 24 days	6 years 3 months 18 days
Prepayment speed	7.10%	6.20%
Impact on fair value of 10% adverse change	$ (2,397)	$ (2,306)
Impact on fair value of 20% adverse change	$ (4,683)	$ (4,525)
Discount rate	11.10%	11.00%
Impact on fair value of 10% adverse change	$ (3,022)	$ (3,603)
Impact on fair value of 20% adverse change	$ (5,845)	$ (6,959)

The carrying amount (fair value) as of the balance sheet date of the transferor's interests in transferred financial assets (typically securitized receivables, generally not involved in the collection of principal) following transfer of significant portions of such financial instruments to other parties. Such interests could be ancillary cash flows and interest-only strips.

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 860
-SubTopic 20
-Section 50
-Paragraph 4
-Subparagraph (a)(3)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=118948506&loc=d3e107314-111719

+ Details

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

- Definition

The hypothetical financial impact of a 10 percent adverse change of the discount rate on the fair value of transferor's interests in transferred financial assets (including any servicing assets or servicing liabilities) as of the balance sheet date.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 860
-SubTopic 20
-Section 50
-Paragraph 4
-Subparagraph (c)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=118948506&loc=d3e107314-111719

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_SensitivityAnalysisOfFairValueOfInterestsContinuedToBeHeldByTransferorServicingAssetsOrLiabilitiesImpactOf10PercentAdverseChangeInDiscountRate
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

The hypothetical financial impact of a 10 percent adverse change of prepayment speed on the fair value of transferor's interests in transferred financial assets (including any servicing assets or servicing liabilities) as of the balance sheet date.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 860
-SubTopic 20
-Section 50
-Paragraph 4
-Subparagraph (c)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=118948506&loc=d3e107314-111719

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_SensitivityAnalysisOfFairValueOfInterestsContinuedToBeHeldByTransferorServicingAssetsOrLiabilitiesImpactOf10PercentAdverseChangeInPrepaymentSpeed
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

The hypothetical financial impact of a 20 percent adverse change of the discount rate on the fair value of transferor's interests in transferred financial assets (including any servicing assets or servicing liabilities) as of the balance sheet date.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 860
-SubTopic 20
-Section 50
-Paragraph 4
-Subparagraph (c)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=118948506&loc=d3e107314-111719

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_SensitivityAnalysisOfFairValueOfInterestsContinuedToBeHeldByTransferorServicingAssetsOrLiabilitiesImpactOf20PercentAdverseChangeInDiscountRate
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

The hypothetical financial impact of a 20 percent adverse change of prepayment speed on the fair value of transferor's interests in transferred financial assets (including any servicing assets or servicing liabilities) as of the balance sheet date.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 860
-SubTopic 20
-Section 50
-Paragraph 4
-Subparagraph (c)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=118948506&loc=d3e107314-111719

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_SensitivityAnalysisOfFairValueOfInterestsContinuedToBeHeldByTransferorServicingAssetsOrLiabilitiesImpactOf20PercentAdverseChangeInPrepaymentSpeed
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_SensitivityAnalysisOfFairValueOfInterestsContinuedToBeHeldByTransferorServicingAssetsOrLiabilitiesImpactOfAdverseChangeInAssumptionLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Discount rate used to estimate the fair value of servicing assets and servicing liabilities.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 860
-SubTopic 50
-Section 50
-Paragraph 2
-Subparagraph (d)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=116651436&loc=d3e122596-111746

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_ServicingAssetsAndServicingLiabilitiesAtFairValueAssumptionsUsedToEstimateFairValueDiscountRate
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Estimated rate of prepayments of principal on servicing assets and servicing liabilities.

+ References

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_ServicingAssetsAndServicingLiabilitiesAtFairValueAssumptionsUsedToEstimateFairValuePrepaymentSpeed
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Weighted average life of financial assets and financial liabilities, in 'PnYnMnDTnHnMnS' format, for example, 'P1Y5M13D' represents the reported fact of one year, five months, and thirteen days.

+ References

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_ServicingAssetsAndServicingLiabilitiesAtFairValueAssumptionsUsedToEstimateFairValueWeightedAverageLife1
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:durationItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FinancialInstrumentAxis=us-gaap_ResidentialMortgageMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FairValueByAssetClassAxis=bpop_OriginatedMortgageServicingRightsMSRMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FairValueByAssetClassAxis=bpop_PurchasedMortgageServicingRightsMSRMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: