Regions Financial

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Regions Financial Corporation

Type	Public company
Founded	1971
Headquarters	Birmingham, Alabama, USA
Industry	Finance and Insurance
Products	Credit cards, Loans, deposit products, investments, insurance, financial planning, trust, asset management, and cash management services.
Revenue	$6,142.6 million USD (2005)
Employees	37,000
Slogan	Everyday Confidence (Regions) The Relationship People (AmSouth)
Website	http://www.regions.com/

Regions Financial Corporation NYSE: RF is a publicly held company based in Birmingham, Alabama, with the corporate headquarters at the Regions Center. The company provides retail and commercial banking, trust, securities brokerage, mortgage and insurance products and services.

Regions has more than $142 billion in assets as of 2006, making it one of the top 10 banks in the United States. Its banking subsidiary, Regions Bank, operates some 2,000 offices across 16 states in the South, Midwest and Texas. Its investment and securities brokerage, trust and asset management division, Morgan Keegan & Company, Inc., provides services in over 325 offices.

[edit] Company history

Regions Financial Corporation started on July 13, 1971 with the merger of three Alabama banks: First National Bank of Montgomery (opened 1871), Security Exchange 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.

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. In addition to the Bank subsidiary, Regions Financial operates a Mortgage Bank, Regions Mortgage, a Trust Company, and an investment subsidiary, Regions Investment Company, Inc., which was called RICI for short. Later, Resbamen Insurance Company was acquired, further expanding the range of financial services offered by the company.

[edit] Recent mergers and acquisitions

On December 19, 2000, Regions agreed to purchased Memphis, Tennessee-based secruities brokerage firm Morgan Keegan for $789 million. Morgan Keegan took over investment banking Responsibilities from RICI and eventually also was given control of Regions Trust Company. The Combined Subsidiary is now Known as Regions Morgan Keegan Trust, Inc.

On January 24, 2004, the Regions Bank subsidiary announced that they would be merging with Memphis, Tennessee-based Union Planters Bank in a $5.9 billion dollar transaction. 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. Shortly before assuming the duties of CEO of Regions Bank in 2005, Jackson W. Moore suffered a stroke 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.

On May 25, 2006, Regions announced it would be acquiring AmSouth Bancorporation, another Birmingham-based bank, in a $10 billion deal. The new entity, and all of its branches, will carry the Regions Bank name.[1] Upon completion of the merger which took place on November 4, 2006, Regions Financial became the nation's 8th largest bank with total assets of nearly $140 billion and approximately 2,000 branches throughout the 16 state coverage area. Jackson W. Moore remains chairman of the combined company while C. Dowd Ritter (chairman, president, and CEO of AmSouth) assumed roles as president and CEO of Regions Financial. Branch and ATM conversions among AmSouth properties is slated to begin in early 2007.