How Financial Co-ops Are Helping Puerto Rico Rebuild — and Why It Matters for New York

The banking industry in Puerto Rico, much like on the mainland, has always catered to wealthier consumers and businesses, rather than low-income people and communities. The financial cooperative system in Puerto Rico goes back at least 50 years and emerged for the same reasons as credit unions on the mainland, including lack of access to financial services. Large numbers of Puerto Ricans have long been disenfranchised from the financial system. The cooperative financial system in Puerto Rico is very strong. One in three Puerto Ricans — more than one million people — are members of these cooperativas. That network of 125 cooperativas has been part of the DNA of Puerto Rican communities, rural communities especially, for generations.