INVESTMENT SECURITIES - Investment Securities Available for Sale (Detail) (USD $) In Thousands, unless otherwise specified	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2014	Dec. 31, 2013
Schedule Of Available For Sale Securities [Line Items]
Amortized cost	$ 1,976,261	$ 2,049,262
Non credit loss component of OTTI recorded in OCI	12,141	14,310
Unrealized gain on available-for-sale securities, net	31,951	22,125
Gross unrealized gains losses	30,405	78,795
Total investment securities available for sale	1,965,666	1,978,282
Weighted average yield	2.49%	2.57%
United States And Puerto Rico Government Obligations [Member]
Schedule Of Available For Sale Securities [Line Items]
Amortized cost	407,832	342,777
Non credit loss component of OTTI recorded in OCI	0	0
Unrealized gain on available-for-sale securities, net	290	1
Gross unrealized gains losses	24,286	34,454
Total investment securities available for sale	383,836	308,324
Weighted average yield	1.86%	1.96%
Mortgage Backed Securities [Member]
Schedule Of Available For Sale Securities [Line Items]
Amortized cost	1,568,429	1,706,450
Non credit loss component of OTTI recorded in OCI	12,141	14,310
Unrealized gain on available-for-sale securities, net	31,661	22,124
Gross unrealized gains losses	6,119	44,339
Total investment securities available for sale	1,581,830	1,669,925
Weighted average yield	2.66%	2.69%
Government National Mortgage Association Certificates And Obligations G N M A [Member] | Mortgage Backed Securities [Member]
Schedule Of Available For Sale Securities [Line Items]
Amortized cost	355,989	426,475
Non credit loss component of OTTI recorded in OCI	0	0
Unrealized gain on available-for-sale securities, net	21,459	18,533
Gross unrealized gains losses	0	0
Total investment securities available for sale	377,448	445,008
Weighted average yield	3.83%	3.82%
Federal National Mortgage Association Certificates And Obligations F N M A [Member] | Mortgage Backed Securities [Member]
Schedule Of Available For Sale Securities [Line Items]
Amortized cost	851,341	891,952
Non credit loss component of OTTI recorded in OCI	0	0
Unrealized gain on available-for-sale securities, net	8,458	3,457
Gross unrealized gains losses	4,859	33,626
Total investment securities available for sale	854,940	861,783
Weighted average yield	2.37%	2.38%
Mortgage Backed Securities Issued By Private Enterprises [Member] | Mortgage Backed Securities [Member]
Schedule Of Available For Sale Securities [Line Items]
Amortized cost	45,788	55,175
Non credit loss component of OTTI recorded in OCI	12,141	14,310
Unrealized gain on available-for-sale securities, net	1	1
Gross unrealized gains losses	0	0
Total investment securities available for sale	33,648	40,866
Weighted average yield	2.17%	2.24%
Due Within One Year [Member] | U S Treasury Securities [Member]
Schedule Of Available For Sale Securities [Line Items]
Amortized cost	7,498	7,498
Non credit loss component of OTTI recorded in OCI	0	0
Unrealized gain on available-for-sale securities, net	1	1
Gross unrealized gains losses	0	0
Total investment securities available for sale	7,499	7,499
Weighted average yield	0.11%	0.12%
Due Within One Year [Member] | Puerto Rico Government Obligations [Member]
Schedule Of Available For Sale Securities [Line Items]
Amortized cost		10,000
Non credit loss component of OTTI recorded in OCI		0
Unrealized gain on available-for-sale securities, net		0
Gross unrealized gains losses		210
Total investment securities available for sale		9,790
Weighted average yield		3.50%
After One To Five Years [Member] | US Government Sponsored Enterprises Debt Securities [Member]
Schedule Of Available For Sale Securities [Line Items]
Amortized cost	260,889	50,000
Non credit loss component of OTTI recorded in OCI	0	0
Unrealized gain on available-for-sale securities, net	42	0
Gross unrealized gains losses	4,219	1,408
Total investment securities available for sale	256,712	48,592
Weighted average yield	1.22%	1.05%
After One To Five Years [Member] | Puerto Rico Government Obligations [Member]
Schedule Of Available For Sale Securities [Line Items]
Amortized cost	39,827
Non credit loss component of OTTI recorded in OCI	0
Unrealized gain on available-for-sale securities, net	0	0
Gross unrealized gains losses	12,419
Total investment securities available for sale	27,408
Weighted average yield	4.49%
After One To Five Years [Member] | Government National Mortgage Association Certificates And Obligations G N M A [Member] | Mortgage Backed Securities [Member]
Schedule Of Available For Sale Securities [Line Items]
Amortized cost	39	86
Non credit loss component of OTTI recorded in OCI	0	0
Unrealized gain on available-for-sale securities, net	1	4
Gross unrealized gains losses	0	0
Total investment securities available for sale	40	90
Weighted average yield	3.26%	3.48%
After One To Five Years [Member] | Federal National Mortgage Association Certificates And Obligations F N M A [Member] | Mortgage Backed Securities [Member]
Schedule Of Available For Sale Securities [Line Items]
Amortized cost	4,160	1,389
Non credit loss component of OTTI recorded in OCI	0	0
Unrealized gain on available-for-sale securities, net	181	84
Gross unrealized gains losses	0	0
Total investment securities available for sale	4,341	1,473
Weighted average yield	3.40%	4.82%
After One To Five Years [Member] | Collateralized Mortgage Obligations [Member] | Mortgage Backed Securities [Member]
Schedule Of Available For Sale Securities [Line Items]
Amortized cost		82
Non credit loss component of OTTI recorded in OCI		0
Unrealized gain on available-for-sale securities, net		0
Gross unrealized gains losses		1
Total investment securities available for sale		81
Weighted average yield		3.01%
After Five To Ten Years [Member] | US Government Sponsored Enterprises Debt Securities [Member]
Schedule Of Available For Sale Securities [Line Items]
Amortized cost	78,234	214,271
Non credit loss component of OTTI recorded in OCI	0	0
Unrealized gain on available-for-sale securities, net	246	0
Gross unrealized gains losses	2,077	13,368
Total investment securities available for sale	76,403	200,903
Weighted average yield	1.72%	1.31%
After Five To Ten Years [Member] | Puerto Rico Government Obligations [Member]
Schedule Of Available For Sale Securities [Line Items]
Amortized cost	886	40,699
Non credit loss component of OTTI recorded in OCI	0	0
Unrealized gain on available-for-sale securities, net	1
Gross unrealized gains losses	0	12,962
Total investment securities available for sale	887	27,737
Weighted average yield	5.20%	4.51%
After Five To Ten Years [Member] | Government National Mortgage Association Certificates And Obligations G N M A [Member] | Mortgage Backed Securities [Member]
Schedule Of Available For Sale Securities [Line Items]
Amortized cost	17,108	800
Non credit loss component of OTTI recorded in OCI	0	0
Unrealized gain on available-for-sale securities, net	501	37
Gross unrealized gains losses	0	0
Total investment securities available for sale	17,609	837
Weighted average yield	3.65%	2.47%
After Five To Ten Years [Member] | Federal National Mortgage Association Certificates And Obligations F N M A [Member] | Mortgage Backed Securities [Member]
Schedule Of Available For Sale Securities [Line Items]
Amortized cost	9,584	7,765
Non credit loss component of OTTI recorded in OCI	0	0
Unrealized gain on available-for-sale securities, net	521	389
Gross unrealized gains losses	5	0
Total investment securities available for sale	10,100	8,154
Weighted average yield	3.49%	4.09%
After Five To Ten Years [Member] | Mortgage Backed Securities Issued By Private Enterprises [Member] | Mortgage Backed Securities [Member]
Schedule Of Available For Sale Securities [Line Items]
Amortized cost	111	127
Non credit loss component of OTTI recorded in OCI	0	0
Unrealized gain on available-for-sale securities, net	1	1
Gross unrealized gains losses	0	0
Total investment securities available for sale	112	128
Weighted average yield	7.27%	7.27%
After Ten Years [Member] | Puerto Rico Government Obligations [Member]
Schedule Of Available For Sale Securities [Line Items]
Amortized cost	20,498	20,309
Non credit loss component of OTTI recorded in OCI	0	0
Unrealized gain on available-for-sale securities, net	0	0
Gross unrealized gains losses	5,571	6,506
Total investment securities available for sale	14,927	13,803
Weighted average yield	5.83%	5.82%
After Ten Years [Member] | Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation Certificates And Obligations F H L M C [Member] | Mortgage Backed Securities [Member]
Schedule Of Available For Sale Securities [Line Items]
Amortized cost	315,311	332,766
Non credit loss component of OTTI recorded in OCI	0	0
Unrealized gain on available-for-sale securities, net	1,743	133
Gross unrealized gains losses	1,260	10,712
Total investment securities available for sale	315,794	322,187
Weighted average yield	2.17%	2.16%
After Ten Years [Member] | Government National Mortgage Association Certificates And Obligations G N M A [Member] | Mortgage Backed Securities [Member]
Schedule Of Available For Sale Securities [Line Items]
Amortized cost	338,842	425,589
Non credit loss component of OTTI recorded in OCI	0	0
Unrealized gain on available-for-sale securities, net	20,957	18,492
Gross unrealized gains losses	0	0
Total investment securities available for sale	359,799	444,081
Weighted average yield	3.83%	3.82%
After Ten Years [Member] | Federal National Mortgage Association Certificates And Obligations F N M A [Member] | Mortgage Backed Securities [Member]
Schedule Of Available For Sale Securities [Line Items]
Amortized cost	837,597	882,798
Non credit loss component of OTTI recorded in OCI	0	0
Unrealized gain on available-for-sale securities, net	7,756	2,984
Gross unrealized gains losses	4,854	33,626
Total investment securities available for sale	840,499	852,156
Weighted average yield	2.36%	2.36%
After Ten Years [Member] | Mortgage Backed Securities Issued By Private Enterprises [Member] | Mortgage Backed Securities [Member]
Schedule Of Available For Sale Securities [Line Items]
Amortized cost	45,677	55,048
Non credit loss component of OTTI recorded in OCI	12,141	14,310
Unrealized gain on available-for-sale securities, net	0	0
Gross unrealized gains losses	0	0
Total investment securities available for sale	33,536	40,738
Weighted average yield	2.17%	2.24%
Equity Securities [Member]
Schedule Of Available For Sale Securities [Line Items]
Amortized cost		35	[1]
Non credit loss component of OTTI recorded in OCI		0	[1]
Unrealized gain on available-for-sale securities, net		0	[1]
Gross unrealized gains losses		2	[1]
Total investment securities available for sale		$ 33	[1]
Equity Securities [Member] | Corporate Bond Securities [Member]
Schedule Of Available For Sale Securities [Line Items]
Weighted average yield		0.00%	[1]

[1]  Represents common shares of another financial institution in Puerto Rico.