Regions Bank

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Regions Bank (NYSE: RF) is a publicly-held company based in Birmingham. The company provides retail and commercial banking, trust, securities brokerage, mortgage and insurance products and services. Regions is currently ranked at No. 483 on the Fortune 500 with $7.5 billion in revenues. As of March 2023 it is the 26th largest U.S. chartered bank holding corporation, with $153.1 billion in consolidated assets, and a market capitalization of $20 billion. Regions is part of the S&P 500 index.

The banking division operates 1,285 branch offices (down from a peak of more than 2,000) and employs 5,967 people in Birmingham (in 2021, down from 9,000 in 2017), making it the area's largest private-sector employer. In 2023 Regions has just over 20,000 employees nationwide. The company laid off around 600 people, mostly from its mortgage division, in early 2024.

Regions was founded with the union of First National Bank of Montgomery, the Exchange Security Bank of Birmingham, and the First National Bank of Huntsville on July 13, 1971. The holding company, the first to be chartered in Alabama, was originally named First Alabama Bancshares with $543 million in assets. With a change to regulations enacted in March 1975, it rebranded its 40 locations under the First Alabama Bank nameplate.

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In 1986, changes in the Interstate Banking Bill allowed bank holding companies to purchase bank branches outside the state in which they were chartered. First Alabama Bancshares expanded its operations first into Florida, continuing into Georgia, Tennessee and Arkansas. To reflect its growth into a regional company, First Alabama Bancshares changed its name to Regions Financial Corporation and the name of its banking subsidiary to Regions Bank on May 2, 1992.

The 2006 merger of Regions with AmSouth Bank created one of the 10 largest banking corporations in the United States, with assets totaling over $140 billion. After the merger, the combined company moved its headquarters to the Regions Center, formerly known as the AmSouth Center, across 20th Street North from its former headquarters in the Regions Plaza building at 4th Avenue North and 20th Street.

Over the years, Regions has added banking branches in Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Florida, South Carolina, Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas. In addition to the banking subsidiary, Regions Financial operates a mortgage bank, Regions Mortgage, a trust company, and an investment subsidiary, Regions Investment Company, Inc. Later, Resbamen Insurance Company was acquired, further expanding the range of financial services offered by the company. The company sold its subprime lending unit in March 2008 to reduce its exposure to risky mortgages, a prime factor in the poor performance of some Morgan Keegan mutual funds. That same year, Regions obtained a $3.5 billion loan through the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). The loan was repaid in full on April 4, 2012.

In 2014 Regions Bank began reorganizing from geography-based divisions into primary business units, a process termed "Simplify and Grow". The "General Bank", headed by John Owen, serves retail, wealth management and small business customers; and a "Corporate Bank", headed by John Turner, serves mid-sized and large corporate clients. Regions also placed its wealth management practice into a separate unit within the company. In 2018 Regions sold its insurance group to BB&T Insurance Holdings.

In 2023 the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System fined Regions $2,945,000 for previous failures to comply with the National Flood Insurance Act and the Federal Deposit Insurance Act in managing its portfolio of home equity loans.

chief executives

area locations

Former branches

significant acquisitions

  • 1998: Regions purchased First Commercial Bank in Little Rock, Arkansas. All First Commercial Banking Locations were renamed to Regions Bank.
  • August 27, 1998: Purchased State First National Bank of Texarkana, Texas
  • September 11, 1998: Purchased Kilgore 1st National Bank of Kilgore, Texas, Longview National Bank of Longview, Texas, Lufkin National Bank of Lufkin, Texas, Stone Fort National Bank of Nacogdoches, Texas, Tyler Bank and Trust of Tyler, Texas, and First National Bank of Palestine, Texas
  • December 19, 2000: Regions agreed to purchase Memphis-based secruities brokerage firm Morgan Keegan for $789 million.
  • May 17, 2002: Purchased Independence Bank of Houston.
  • July 12, 2002: Purchased Brookhollow National Bank of Dallas.
  • January 24, 2004: A $5.9 billion dollar merger with Memphis-based Union Planters Bank was announced. This merger was noteworthy (at least among large banks) for the fact that Regions, the acquiring bank, did not pay a premium above the currently trading stock price of Union Planters shares. Union Planters Bank, however, was to receive an equal number of board seats within the newly formed bank. This, coupled with the announcement that Jackson W. Moore, the chairman, president, and CEO of Union Planters Bank was to become the CEO of the newly formed bank (a position formerly held by Carl E. Jones) one year post merger, led many to call this marriage a 'merger of equals' despite the fact that Regions Bank was half again larger than Union Planters at the time of the announcement. Shortly before assuming the duties of CEO of Regions Bank in 2005, Moore suffered a stroke, but was still able to assume his new post upon recovery.
  • May 25, 2006: Regions announced it would be acquiring AmSouth Bank, another Birmingham-based bank, in a $10 billion deal. The new entity, and all of its branches, now carry the Regions Bank name. The deal was finalized in November 2006. [1] Upon completion of the merger, Regions Financial became the nation's 8th largest bank with total assets of nearly $140 billion and approximately 2,000 branches.
  • August 29, 2008: Regions paid $9 million to acquire $900 million in deposits and $33.4 million for five branch offices and other assets from the failed Alpharetta, Georgia-based Integrity Bank which was taken over by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. [2]
  • February 6, 2009: Regions acquired $285 million in deposits and $17 million in assets from the failed Georgia-based FirstBank Financial Services which was taken over by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. [3]
  • October 2016: Regions acquired the affordable housing syndication and asset management businesses of First Sterling Financial in New York, New York.
  • 2019: Regions acquired Highland Associates investment firm with plans to operate it as an independent subsidiary under the "Regions Wealth Management Group" banner.
  • 2020: The bank purchased Ascentium Capital of Kingwood, Texas
  • June 2021: Regions acquired EnerBank USA of Salt Lake City, Utah for $960 million.
  • October 2021: Regions acquired Sabal Capital Partners of Irvine, California.
  • December 2021: Regions acquired Clearsight Advisors of McLean, Virginia.

Logos


References

  • Goodman, Sherri C. (May 25, 2006) "Regions, AmSouth to merge." The Birmingham News
  • Cantrell, Wanda (November 2006) "Merging Assets: The joining of Regions and AmSouth means combined deposits of massive proportions -- and big changes for some employees." Portico
  • "Regions Financial" (May 30, 2006) Wikipedia - accessed May 30, 2006
  • "Regions rolls out new logo." (November 7, 2006) Insider. The Birmingham News
  • Hubbard, Russell (July 14, 2008) "Regions bad year swamps high hopes born in AmSouth merger." The Birmingham News
  • Tomberlin, Michael (June 16, 2014) "Regions creates 'General Bank' and 'Corporate Bank' and names new leadership." The Birmingham News
  • Thornton, William (April 6, 2018) "Regions Insurance Group sold to BB&T Insurance Holdings." The Birmingham News
  • Coker, Angel (July 25, 2018) "Regions' new Birmingham leader on his plans for the role, the Magic City bank scene and more." Birmingham Business Journal
  • Bagwell, Dan (July 8, 2019) "List: Alabama’s public companies slowed by volatile stock market." Birmingham Business Journal
  • Coker, Angel (February 27, 2020) "Regions Bank to acquire Texas-based equipment finance lender." Birmingham Business Journal
  • Coker, Angel (June 8, 2021) "Regions Bank to acquire Salt Lake City home improvement lender in $960 million deal." Birmingham Business Journal
  • O'Leary, A. J. (May 23, 2023) "Where is Regions cutting branches?" Birmingham Business Journal
  • Thornton, William (August 23, 2023) "Regions fined $2.95 million by Federal Reserve: Possibly largest penalty of its kind ever levied." AL.com
  • Koplowitz, Howard (January 31, 2024) "Regions Bank cuts 600 jobs after reviewing ‘overall economic factors’." AL.com

External links