Note Commitments and contingencies (Commitments) - Additional Information (Detail) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	3 Months Ended	12 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2017	Dec. 31, 2016
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Line Items]
Unrecorded Unconditional Purchase Obligation Balance Sheet Amount	$ 372	$ 372
PR Government Direct Exposure
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Line Items]
Concentration Risk Credit Risk Financial Instrument Maximum Exposure	519,679	584,491
PR Government Direct Exposure \| From PR Government And Public Corporations
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Line Items]
Concentration Of Risk Credit Facilities	14,622	17,445
PR Government Direct Exposure \| From Municipalities
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Line Items]
Concentration Risk Credit Risk Financial Instrument Maximum Exposure	505,057
PR Government Indirect Exposure
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Line Items]
Concentration Of Risk Credit Facilities	400,000	406,000
PR Government Indirect Exposure \| PR Housing Bonds backed by second mortgage loans
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Line Items]
Concentration Of Risk Credit Facilities	43,000	43,000
PR Government Indirect Exposure \| Commercial real estate
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Line Items]
Concentration Of Risk Credit Facilities	30,000	31,000
PR Government Indirect Exposure \| Pass Through securities that have been economically defeased and refunded
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Line Items]
Concentration Of Risk Credit Facilities	7,000	6,000
USVI Government Direct Exposure \| From USVI Government And Public Corporations
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Line Items]
Concentration Risk Credit Risk Financial Instrument Maximum Exposure	79,000
Outstanding Balance \| PR Government Direct Exposure
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Line Items]
Concentration Of Risk Credit Facilities	516,229	529,339
Outstanding Balance \| PR Government Direct Exposure \| From Municipalities
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Line Items]
Concentration Of Risk Credit Facilities	501,607	511,894
Outstanding Balance \| PR Government Indirect Exposure
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Line Items]
Loans and Leases Receivable, Consumer, Mortgage with PRHA	320,000	326,000
Commitments To Extend Credit
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Line Items]
Reserve of potential losses associated with unfunded loan commitments	9,000	9,000
Loans \| Outstanding Balance \| PR Government Direct Exposure
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Line Items]
Concentration Of Risk Credit Facilities	450,617	458,794
Loans \| Outstanding Balance \| PR Government Direct Exposure \| From Municipalities
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Line Items]
Concentration Of Risk Credit Facilities	450,617
Securities Investment \| Outstanding Balance \| PR Government Direct Exposure
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Line Items]
Concentration Of Risk Credit Facilities	65,612	$ 70,545
Securities Investment \| Outstanding Balance \| PR Government Direct Exposure \| From Municipalities
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Line Items]
Concentration Of Risk Credit Facilities	$ 50,990

Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Line Items]

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- Definition

Concentration of Risk Credit Facilities with the Puerto Rico government that is outstanding.

+ References

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Amount before allowance of consumer mortgage held and guaranteed by the Puerto Rico Housing Authority.

+ References

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Maximum amount of loss due to credit risk that, based on the gross fair value of the financial instrument, the entity would incur if parties to the financial instruments that make up the concentration failed completely to perform according to the terms of the contracts and the collateral or other security, if any, for the amount due proved to be of no value to the entity.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 825
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 21
-Subparagraph (b)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=73719730&loc=d3e13537-108611

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- Definition

Amount of the unrecorded obligation to transfer funds in the future for fixed or minimum amounts or quantities of goods or services at fixed or minimum prices (for example, as in take-or-pay contracts or throughput contracts).

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 440
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 4
-Subparagraph (b)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=73718637&loc=d3e25336-109308

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Total of allowances and reserves, the valuation and qualifying accounts that are either netted against the cost of an asset (in order to value it at its carrying value) or that reflect a liability established to represent expected future costs.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 235
-SubTopic 10
-Section S99
-Paragraph 4
-Subparagraph (SX 210.12-09)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=26873400&loc=d3e24092-122690

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