“Can the Dominican Republic's largest traditional financial group successfully build a parallel digital-native banking franchise (Qik) to capture the next generation of consumers without cannibalizing its core branch-based business?”
Grupo Popular is the principal financial group in the Dominican Republic, operating primarily through Banco Popular Dominicano. In 2022, the group made a deliberate push toward digital banking by launching Qik Banco Digital Dominicano — the country's first neobank — built in partnership with i2c's card issuing and digital banking infrastructure, offering branchless mobile banking with physical and virtual Mastercards. This represents a strategic pivot from a traditional branch-based banking model to a hybrid digital-first posture, targeting next-generation consumers who may be underserved by legacy branch networks.
Grupo Popular discloses i2c as its banking provider, according to the Embedded Finance Index 2026.
Grupo Popular does not disclose a bank charter of its own; its banking services are provided through i2c.
Grupo Popular processes payments through EVERTEC (in-house processing partnership).
Grupo Popular's cards are issued through i2c.
The Embedded Finance Index 2026 maps 4 layers in Grupo Popular's stack: Payments / PSP (EVERTEC (in-house processing partnership)); Banking / BaaS (i2c); Card issuing (i2c); Lending (Préstamo Comercial (Commercial Loan), SBA-guaranteed loans (up to $5M, preferred lender status) and Tarjeta Visa Corporate (corporate credit line from $10,000)).
Grupo Popular is headquartered in Santo Domingo, Distrito Nacional, Dominican Republic.
Get a read on where your own stack stands against Grupo Popular and the rest of its category — what they built versus bought, which providers they use, and where the gaps in your own strategy and competitive set actually are.