SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO, BURLINGTON, MA—April 2, 2002— Banco Popular of Puerto Rico has implemented a Web-based business intelligence solution from Cognos that will be used enterprise-wide to report on and analyze the performance and risk levels of commercial accounts. Cognos (Nasdaq: COGN; TSE: CSN) is the leading global provider of business intelligence solutions.

Banco Popular, with $23.2 billion in assets, is a major financial services provider to Puerto Rico, the Caribbean, and continental United States. Managers across Banco Popular's 200 branches are using Cognos Impromptu® Web Reports, PowerPlay®, and Cognos Query® as the corporate standard for managed reporting and multidimensional analysis across all divisions, including mortgage, finance, insurance, and auto leasing.

"Up to now Banco Popular had been dealing with very diverse data sources and was looking for a business intelligence solution that would allow us to simultaneously access and analyze the information within our multiple applications," said Ramón Meléndez, vice president, Banco Popular. "The strength of the Cognos solution and their partner Technology Partners has provided Banco Popular with a solution that has augmented the precision in which we can now analyze our data. The Cognos solution provides our managers with an integrated, consistent, and secure method of reporting and analyzing sensitive corporate data."

"Cognos delivers the industry's most comprehensive business intelligence solution, allowing complex organizations such as Banco Popular to analyze massive volumes of data and use that information to maximum effect throughout the enterprise," said Laura Ghisellini, vice president, Cognos Latin America. "Cognos continues to be the leading business intelligence vendor in Latin America and the Caribbean and this customer success clearly underlines our continued momentum in that region."

About Banco Popular:
A division of Popular, Inc., a bank holding company with $23.2 billion in assets. Banco Popular is a complete financial services provider in Puerto Rico, the United States, and the Caribbean.

In Puerto Rico they are the leading financial institution, offering full commercial banking services, investment products and services, finance and vehicle leasing, mortgages and personal loans through Banco Popular and its affiliates Popular Leasing, Popular Mortgage, Popular Securities and Popular Finance.

About Technology Partners:
As a Cognos Business Partner, Technology Partners, Inc. specializes in implementing Cognos Business solutions to help drive organizations to new levels of competitive advantage. Our Business Intelligence implementation methodology allows us to cost-effectively extract and transform data into meaningful information, thereby helping clients maximize the return on their IT investment and profit from their information assets.