'Regions Financial Corporation' 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 $143 billion in assets as of
2007, making it one of the top 10 banks in the
United States.
[2] 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 450 offices across 19 states.
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.
[3] 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
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, Rebsamen Insurance Company was acquired, further expanding the range of financial services offered by the company.
Recent mergers and acquisitions
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)
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.
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.
AmSouth
Regions adopted this logo after merging with Union Planters, incorporating the former bank's logo into its own.
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.
[4] 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. AmSouth branches in Alabama and Florida closed or converted to Regions on July 13, 2007. AmSouth branches in Event 2 will close or convert on October 19,2007.
See also
★
Regions Center
★
Regions Charity Classic
★
Regions Park
External links
★
Regions Financial official site
★
Morgan Keegan official site
★
Regions Insurance official site
★
Regions Mortgage official site
العربية
中国
Français
Deutsch
Ελληνική
हिन्दी
Italiano
日本語
Português
Русский
Español
