First chartered in 1948, FirstBank was the first S&L institution established in Puerto Rico with a capital of $200,000.

Since its inception the bank played a fundamental role in improving the quality of life in Puerto Rico, by helping thousands of citizens to acquire their first home, thus enhancing their social and economic status.

It converted to a commercial bank charter and changed its name to FirstBank of Puerto Rico in 1984. In 1987, FirstBank became a stockholder-owned savings bank and went public, trading on Nasdaq. A few years later, in 1993, it was listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol FBP and reorganized into a holding company under the name First BanCorp in 1998.

Thanks to the visionary leadership of its management team, the institution experienced an impressive growth and transformation, becoming one of Puerto Rico’s leading financial institutions with over 2,800 employees. It offers a full range of financial services to individual, commercial, and corporate customers through its more than a hundred financial facilities in Puerto Rico, the U.S. mainland, the US and British Virgin Islands.

In Puerto Rico, First BanCorp. operates two direct wholly-owned subsidiaries: FirstBank Puerto Rico and FirstBank Insurance Agency, Inc., and also owns Grupo Empresas de Servicios Financieros (d/b/a Puerto Rico Finance Group). FirstBank, in turn, has the following fully-owned subsidiaries: First Mortgage, a mortgage banking company; First Truck & Car Rental, a company that provides vehicles for short-term rentals; First Leasing, a long-term leasing of vehicles provider; First Federal Finance Corp. (d/b/a Money Express La Financiera), a finance company; and First Bank Overseas Corp., an international banking entity organized under the laws of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

In 2000 and after acquiring Chase Manhattan Bank, FirstBank became the largest bank in the Virgin Islands (USVI & BVI), serving St. Thomas, St. Croix, St. John, Tortola and Virgin Gorda, with 15 branches. In the U.S. and British Virgin Islands, the corporation operates FirstBank in addition to the subsidiaries First Express, a finance company specializing in the origination of small loans; FirstBank Insurance Agency, V.I.; and First Trade, Inc., which provides foreign sales corporation management services.

In the United States, FirstBank operates a loan agency in Coral Gables, Florida. In March 31, 2005, FirstBank acquired Ponce General Corporation and its subsidiaries FirstBank Florida, formerly known as UniBank, a federal savings and loan association, and Ponce Realty Corporation, a company with real estate holdings. FirstBank Florida has a network of 11 service locations in Miami/Dade, Broward, Orange and Osceola counties in Florida.

First BanCorp and its subsidiaries are subject to supervision, examination, and regulation of the Federal Reserve Board, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and the Office of the Commissioner of Financial Institutions of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. In addition, FirstBank Florida operations are subject to the supervision, examination, and regulation of the Office of Financial Regulation of the State of Florida, the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. FirstBank Florida is regulated by the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) and its deposits are insured by the FDIC. The FirstBank Insurance Agency is regulated by the Office of the Insurance Commissioner of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. The Virgin Islands operations are supervised by the Virgin Islands Banking Board (for the USVI) and by the British Virgin Islands Financial Services Commission (for the BVI).