It is clear from the passage that Popular has worked hard to----.

Spain's third-largest bank, Banco Popular, raised
some eyebrows recently when it agreed to buy
Portugal's Banco Nacional for $638 million.
Shareholders voted overwhelmingly in approval of
the acquisition. Normally, however, Popular's
approach is far more conservative: a singleminded
devotion to organic retail growth in its
home market as opposed to takeovers. Over the
past decade, the bank has worked hard to build its
base, cultivating the market for mortgages,
consumer loans, and, recently, loans to small and
midsize businesses. As rivals looked to the New
World and bought up smaller banks at home.
Popular expanded its retail network to 2,200
branches throughout Spain, it also added Internet
and telephone banking operations that are based
in the branches. The effort has paid off. In each of
the past three years, the bank has gained 300,000
customers.