Regions Financial Corporation

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Regions Financial Corporation
Type Public (NYSE: RF)
Founded 1971 as First Alabama Bancshares
Headquarters Birmingham, Alabama, USA
Industry Finance
Products Credit cards, Loans, deposit products, investments, insurance, financial planning, trust, asset management, and cash management services.
Revenue ▲$10.939 billion USD (2007)
Net income ▲$1.252 billion USD (2007)[1]
Employees 39,500
Website regions.com

Regions Financial Corporation NYSE: RF is a publicly held company based in Birmingham, Alabama, with the corporate headquarters at the Regions Center. A member of the S&P 100 Index, the company provides retail and commercial banking, trust, securities brokerage, mortgage and insurance products and services.

Regions has more than $144 billion in assets as of 2008, making it one of the top 10 banks in the United States.[1] Its banking subsidiary, Regions Bank, operates some 2,000 branches and 2,400 ATMs across a 16-state network in the South, Midwest and Texas. Its securities brokerage and asset management subsidiary, Morgan Keegan & Company, Inc., provides services in over 450 offices across 19 states.

Contents

[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), 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.[2] 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.

Regions Geographic Footprint
Regions Geographic Footprint

Many of these founding banks hold places of historic importance in Alabama. For instance, 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 still used for the same purpose as intended approximately 170 years ago. It is currently in use as the Main office of Regions Bank in Huntsville. It served as a hospital for Union soldiers during the 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 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..

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, Rebsamen Insurance Company was acquired, further expanding the range of financial services offered by the company.

[edit] Recent mergers and acquisitions

[edit] Morgan Keegan

Former Regions logo, used officially until August 2004 (though it remained in place on signage at many original Regions branches until the AmSouth conversion in 2007)
Former Regions logo, used officially until August 2004 (though it remained in place on signage at many original Regions branches until the AmSouth conversion in 2007)

On December 19, 2000, Regions agreed to purchase Memphis, Tennessee based securities 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.

[edit] Union Planters

On January 24, 2004, the Regions Bank subsidiary announced that it 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 and used it until the AmSouth conversion.

[edit] AmSouth

Regions adopted this logo after merging with Union Planters, incorporating the former bank's logo into its own.
Regions adopted this logo after merging with Union Planters, incorporating the former bank's logo into its own.
Old AmSouth logo

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 would become AmSouth, but carry the Regions name.[3] Upon completion of the merger, which took place on November 4, 2006, Regions Financial became the nation's eighth largest bank with total assets of nearly $140 billion and approximately 2,000 branches and more than 2,400 ATMs throughout a 16-state network. 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. AmSouth branches in Alabama and Florida closed or converted to Regions on July 13, 2007. AmSouth branches in Event 2 either closed or converted to Regions on October 26, 2007. Some AmSouth branches remained in northwest Georgia, but they were converted on the evening of December 6, 2007 and the AmSouth name is now retired.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Financial Information (chart). Regions Financial Corporation (2006-12-31). Retrieved on 2007-11-26.
  2. ^ Public Hearing on Preemption Petition. FDIC (2005-05-24). Retrieved on 2007-11-26. “What is now Regions Bank began as three separate banks: the First National Bank of Huntsville (chartered in 1865), the First National Bank of Montgomery, and the Exchange Security Bank of Birmingham. In 1971, First National Bank of Huntsville and Exchange Security Bank of Birmingham joined to create Alabama’s first bank holding company, First Alabama Bancshares and we renamed our banking operations First Alabama Bank.”
  3. ^ Regions Financial Corporation (2006-05-25). "Regions Financial Corp. and AmSouth Bancorporation to Merge". Press release. Retrieved on 2007-11-26.

[edit] External links


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