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.
Its banking subsidiary, Regions Bank, operates 1,906 automated teller machines and 1,527 branches in 15 states in the Southern United States and Midwestern United States.
Regions is the only member of the Fortune 500 headquartered in Alabama, and was ranked #436 in 2017. Regions is also on the list of largest banks in the United States
Current operations
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As of June 30, 2017, Regions was the largest deposit holder in Alabama, with $22.677 billion in local deposits, or 22.58% of all local deposits. In Tennessee, Regions was also the largest deposit holder with $17.3 billion in total deposits, or 14.1% of all local deposits. Regions had $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.
The company sponsors Regions Field, a minor league baseball stadium in Birmingham, Alabama, and The Tradition golf tournament. It sponsored the Regions Charity Classic, a golf tournament held in 2009 and 2010.
The company has a partnership with Operation HOPE, Inc. to provide free financial education to underserved community.
History
Regions Financial Corporation, formerly known as First Alabama Bancshares, was founded on July 13, 1971 with the merger of three Alabama banks: First National Bank of Montgomery, Alabama (opened 1871), Exchange Security Bank of Birmingham, Alabama (opened 1928), and First National Bank of Huntsville, Alabama (opened 1856). The headquarters of First National Bank of Huntsville was a historic building built in 1835. 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.
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. In 1994, 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.
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 Legislature, Jamar Adcock and Billy Boles.
In 2001, Regions acquired Rebsamen Insurance Company, which was renamed Regions Insurance Group.
In 2001, Regions acquired Morgan Keegan & Company for $789 million. In January 2012, Regions sold Morgan Keegan to Raymond James for $930 million. The trust department was retained by Regions and now operates as Regions Trust.
In 2002, the company announced that it will list its common stock on the New York Stock Exchange.
In 2002, Regions acquired Independence Bank for approximately $20 million in cash.
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.
In 2006, Regions acquired AmSouth Bancorporation, another Birmingham based bank, in a $10 billion transaction. While Regions was the surviving company, the merged entity adopted AmSouth's corporate structure.
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.
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 and Regions Bank assumed its operations.
In February 2009, FirstBank Financial Services of McDonough, Georgia, was also placed into receivership by the FDIC and Regions Bank assumed its operations.
Criticism
Customer fraud
In 2011, Regions paid $200 million to settle with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission over mispricing risky mortgage-backed bonds in its conservative mutual funds in its Morgan Keegan subsidiary.
Overdraft fees
In April 2015, Regions was fined $7.5 million by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for charging consumers with inappropriate or illegal overdraft fees. Regions did not obtain affirmative opt-ins from charging overdraft fees on ATM and point of sale transactions. The CFPB also found that Regions misrepresented overdraft and non-sufficient fund fees related to the bank's short-term loan program.
References
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