With Popular Bank South Florida Executive Israel Velasco

Popular Bank South Florida Executive Israel Velasco joined Capital Analytics President & CEO Abby Melone to discuss key insights amid COVID-19. The discussion aired during a segment of Invest:Insights on September 16, 2020. Invest: Insights is a virtual thought leadership series, featuring engaging one-on-one conversations with top-level level executives and industry leaders.

Notably, Mr. Velasco discussed Popular Bank’s continued efforts to assist customers, the current economic climate and other key takeaways.

Popular Bank remains in a strong position to meet the needs of our customers.

Popular Bank moved quickly to meet and continue to meet the growing and changing needs of our customers in the face of COVID-19. This includes our heightened branch health and safety protocols and the introduction of enhanced digital services. We mobilized these actions within days of the health crisis’ initial impact to our communities.

Six months later, we continue this mission through our participation in several programs and outreach initiatives, including the Small Business Administration Paycheck Protection Program and the Main Street Lending program. Popular Bank additionally continue our long-standing high-touch and relationship-first practices. This philosophy continues to drive success despite challenging economic circumstances for both our consumer and commercial customers. Currently, Popular Bank’s South Florida Region reports zero past due loans across our commercial and community association loan portfolios. 

Low interest rates are encouraging consumer activity.

As a whole, the financial services sector is much better capitalized compared to the last significant financial crisis in 2007. Because of this, banks and other financial institutions are in a good position to maintain healthy lending. This current industry landscape, in addition to historically low interest rates, are presenting significant opportunities for both consumer and commercial customers.  We are seeing many consumer and commercial customers take advantage of this, pursuing financing amid historically low interest rates. This is especially true with mortgages and mortgage refinancing.

We are looking ahead with our legacy of teamwork and agility front-of-mind.

We have faced six months of change and challenge and we are continuing to adapt to our evolving industry amid COVID-19. Popular Bank is committed to our winning practices. Persistence is key to our success in both thriving as an organization and meeting the needs of our customers and communities. To accomplish this, we will continue to leverage our deep institutional resources, nimble processes and tremendous teamwork.