Note Employee benefits (Plans target allocation by asset category) (Detail)	12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2016
Popular Related Securities [Member]
Defined Benefit Plan Disclosure [Line Items]
Minimum allotment	0.00%
Maximum allotment	5.00%
Equity
Defined Benefit Plan Disclosure [Line Items]
Minimum allotment	0.00%
Maximum allotment	70.00%
Debt Securities
Defined Benefit Plan Disclosure [Line Items]
Minimum allotment	0.00%
Maximum allotment	100.00%
Cash and Cash Equivalents
Defined Benefit Plan Disclosure [Line Items]
Minimum allotment	0.00%
Maximum allotment	100.00%

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.

No definition available.

+ Details

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

- Definition

Target allocation maximum percentage of investments of this type to total plan assets presented on a weighted average basis.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 715
-SubTopic 20
-Section 50
-Paragraph 5
-Subparagraph (c)(i)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=65897934&loc=d3e2446-114920

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 715
-SubTopic 20
-Section 50
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (d)(i)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=65897934&loc=d3e1928-114920

+ Details

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

- Definition

Target allocation minimum percentage of investments of this type to total plan assets presented on a weighted average basis.

+ 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 (d)(i)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=65897934&loc=d3e1928-114920

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 715
-SubTopic 20
-Section 50
-Paragraph 5
-Subparagraph (c)(i)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=65897934&loc=d3e2446-114920

+ Details

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

- Details

Name:	bpop_PopularRelatedSecuritiesAxis=bpop_PopularRelatedSecuritiesMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_DefinedBenefitPlanByPlanAssetCategoriesAxis=us-gaap_EquityMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_DefinedBenefitPlanByPlanAssetCategoriesAxis=us-gaap_DebtSecuritiesMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_DefinedBenefitPlanByPlanAssetCategoriesAxis=us-gaap_CashAndCashEquivalentsMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: