DR Bank BanReservas Opens First U.S. Office In Washington Heights

WASHINGTON HEIGHTS, NY - The Dominican Republic’s largest bank has opened its first U.S. representative office, fittingly, in Washington Heights.

BanReservas, or Banco de Reservas de la República Dominicana, opened at 500 West 181st St. on Wednesday, complete with a ribbon-cutting ceremony helmed by financial firm executives and Dominican Republic President Luis Abinader.

The bank is expected to service Washington Heights’ large Dominican community, allowing customers to apply for mortgages, manage insurance, acquire housing and other properties without having to travel out of the country.

Around 176,517 Manhattanites identify as Dominican, according to the 2020 U.S. Census. In fact, the New York metropolitan area touts the largest concentration of Dominicans in the U.S., with a population of roughly 641,000 in the region. That’s compared to 72,000 in the Miami metropolitan area and 81,000 in the Boston area, according to World Finance.

“The Dominican diaspora, from residents to business owners and from community leaders to campaigners, has been clamoring for a way to maintain investment links with and send money back to the home country for a long time now,” BanReservas CEO Samuel Pereyra wrote earlier this year. “The internationalization of BanReservas will satisfy that need, bringing convenience, peace of mind and wealth-making opportunities to our communities in Spain, the US and here at home in the Dominican Republic.”

During the Wednesday ceremony, Abinader spoke on the “commitment that the institution has assumed to be increasingly closer to its own, carrying a little piece of [the Dominican Republic] wherever #Dominicans are,” BanReservas said in a statement in Spanish.

The site of the bank is on the ground floor of the Radio Tower & Hotel, a new boutique hotel facing Amsterdam Avenue.

BanReservas’ New York office marks the first of two planned U.S. branches. A Miami location is set to open sometime in 2023. Another branch in Madrid, Spain, opened in January.

“After more than 81 years as a catalyst for the Dominican economy, Banco de Reservas de la República Dominicana is now taking firm steps towards internationalization,” Pereyra wrote. “The Spanish and American offices will replicate all the banking services offered by other banks in the paces where they operate, but the financial transactions themselves will be carried out in the Dominican Republic. This will enable and expedite banking procedures in their country for Dominicans residing abroad.”