Regions Financial Corporation is a bank and financial services company headquartered in the Regions Center in Birmingham, Alabama. The company provides retail and commercial banking, trust, securities brokerage, mortgage and insurance products and services.
Regions is the only member of the Fortune 500 headquartered in Alabama, and was ranked #453 in 2016. Regions is also on the list of largest banks in the United States
Its banking subsidiary, Regions Bank, operates 1,906 automated teller machines and 1,527 banking offices across 15 states in the southern United States.
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Current operations
As of June 30, 2016, Regions was the largest deposit holder in Alabama, with $22.586 billion in local deposits, or 23.26% of all local deposits. In Tennessee, Regions is also the largest deposit holder with $17.3 billion in total deposits, or 14.1% of all local deposits. Regions has $4 billion in deposits (7.5% of local deposits) in Arkansas, $7.2 billion in deposits (7.6% of local deposits) in Louisiana, $6.6 billion in deposits (13.8% of local deposits) in Mississippi, and $19.1 billion in deposits (4.2% of local deposits) in Florida.
The company's headquarters is in the Regions Center in Birmingham, Alabama.
History
Regions Financial Corporation started on July 13, 1971 with the merger of three Alabama banks: First National Bank of Montgomery (opened 1871), Exchange Security Bank of Birmingham (opened 1928), and First National Bank of Huntsville (opened 1856). The combined company was known as First Alabama Bancshares, the first state-chartered bank holding company in Alabama. Other acquisitions expanded the holding company's reach. Until their formal merger in March 1985, under revised banking regulations, the banks continued to operate independently.
Many of these founding banks hold places of historic importance in Alabama. The First National Bank Building in Huntsville, which was originally the Branch Bank of the State of Alabama, is one of the few bank buildings in existence today which was used for the same intended purpose for about 170 years, until it was retired in January 2010. It served as a hospital for Union soldiers during the American Civil War, and once held a rifle owned by Frank James as collateral for bail money when he was incarcerated across the street in the Madison County Jail.
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.
Regions added banking branches in Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Florida, South Carolina, Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas. The name "Regions" was purchased from First Commercial Corporation, the Arkansas Bank that Regions subsequently purchased in 1998. The Louisiana Regions Banks were established in Monroe (Ouachita Parish) by two former members of the Louisiana State Senate, Jamar Adcock and William R. "Billy" Boles, Sr..
On April 10, 2002, Regions Financial Corporation announced that it will list its common stock on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the ticker symbol "RF".
In addition to the bank subsidiary, Regions Financial operated a mortgage bank - Regions Mortgage - a trust company, and an investment subsidiary - Regions Investment Company, Inc. (RICI).
In 2001, Regions acquired Rebsamen Insurance Company."Regions Buys Rebsamen Insurance". Arkansas Business. February 7, 2001. (subscription required)</ref>
TARP
In 2008, Regions Bank received a $3.5 billion loan as part of the Troubled Asset Relief Program. On April 4, 2012 Regions repaid the $3.5 billion loan.
Major mergers and acquisitions
Independence Bank
On May 17, 2002, Regions Financial completed the acquisition of Independence Bank for approximately $20 million in cash.
Morgan Keegan
On December 19, 2000, Regions agreed to purchase Memphis, Tennessee, based securities brokerage firm Morgan Keegan & Company for $789 million. Morgan Keegan took over investment banking Responsibilities from RICI and eventually also was given control of Regions Trust Company. In January 2012, Regions sold Morgan Keegan to Raymond James, a Florida-based brokerage firm, for $930 million. Regions Morgan Keegan was retained by Regions and now operates as Regions Trust.
Union Planters
On January 24, 2004, Regions merged with Memphis, Tennessee based Union Planters Bank in a $5.9 billion transaction. Jackson W. Moore, the former CEO of Union Planters, became CEO of the merged company. He suffered a stroke after the merger closed, but was still able to assume his new post upon recovery. After the merger, Regions adopted Union Planters' former logo of a young cotton plant and used it until the AmSouth conversion. The merger significantly increased Regions' footprint in Tennessee; Union Planters had been the largest Tennessee-based bank.
AmSouth
On May 25, 2006, Regions announced it would be acquiring AmSouth Bancorporation, another Birmingham based bank, in a $10 billion deal. While Regions would be the surviving company, the merged entity would effectively adopt AmSouth's corporate structure.
Integrity Bank
On August 29, 2008, as a result of the 2007-2008 financial crisis, Integrity Bank, of Alpharetta, Georgia, was placed into receivership by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and Regions Bank assumed its operations.
FirstBank Financial Services
In February 2009, FirstBank Financial Services of McDonough, Georgia, was also placed into receivership by the FDIC and Regions Bank assumed its operations.
Customer satisfaction
In J. D. Power and Associates 2008 Retail Banking Satisfaction Study, Regions came in last in customer satisfaction in the Southeastern region. In the 2011 Retail Banking Satisfaction Study, Regions came in fourth in customer satisfaction in the Southeastern region.
In April 2011, Regions Bank scored the highest marks for retail banks in Florida, according to J.D. Power & Associates.
Criticism
Customer fraud
In 2011, Regions settled with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission over mispricing risky mortgage-backed bonds in its conservative mutual funds in its Morgan Keenan subsidiary by agreeing to pay $200 million.
Overdraft fees
In April 2015 Regions was fined $7.5 million for inappropriate or illegal overdraft fees to customers. The charges are for Regions not obtaining affirmative opt-ins from charging overdraft fees on ATM and one-time debit card transactions. The CFPB found that Regions misrepresented overdraft and non-sufficient fund fees related to the bank's short-term loan program.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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