W Holding Company, Inc. (the “Company”) (NYSE : "WHI") is a bank holding company offering a full range of financial services. The business of the Company is conducted through its wholly-owned commercial bank subsidiary, Westernbank Puerto Rico (“Westernbank” or the “Bank”). The Company was organized under the laws of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico in February 1999 to become the bank holding company of Westernbank. Westernbank was founded as a savings institution in 1958 operating in the western and southwestern regions of Puerto Rico, focusing on retail banking and emphasizing long-term fixed-rate residential mortgage loans on one-to-four family residential properties.

Puerto Rico (also referred to as the “Island” or the “Commonwealth”), a Commonwealth of the United States of America, is the easternmost of the Greater Antilles and the fourth largest island of the Caribbean. The Island is located at the crossroads between North and South America, at just 3.5 hours airtime from New York and 60 minutes from Venezuela and has a population of approximately four million people. As in the rest of the United States, the Island has a local judicial system. The Island constitutes a district in the federal judiciary and has its own U.S. district court.