Transfers of financial assets and servicing assets - Key economic assumptions used (Details) - Residential Mortgage	12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2020	Dec. 31, 2019
BPPR
Assumption for Fair Value as of Balance Sheet Date of Assets or Liabilities that relate to Transferor's Continuing Involvement
Prepayment speed	7.60%	7.00%
Weighted average life	8 years 8 months 12 days	9 years 6 months
Discount rate (annual rate)	10.90%	10.90%
PB
Assumption for Fair Value as of Balance Sheet Date of Assets or Liabilities that relate to Transferor's Continuing Involvement
Prepayment speed	21.90%	0.00%
Weighted average life	3 years 7 months 6 days	0 years
Discount rate (annual rate)	10.50%	0.00%

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

- Definition

Discount rate which is used to value residual cash flows generated by financial assets of the securitization, asset-backed financing arrangement, or similar transfer for initial fair value measurement.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 860
-SubTopic 20
-Section 50
-Paragraph 3
-Subparagraph (c)(1)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=118948506&loc=d3e107207-111719

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_AssumptionForFairValueOnSecuritizationDateOfInterestsContinuedToBeHeldByTransferorServicingAssetsOrLiabilitiesDiscountRate
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

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_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_StatementBusinessSegmentsAxis=bpop_BancoPopularDePuertoRicoMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_StatementBusinessSegmentsAxis=bpop_PopularBankMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: