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, Exchange Security Bank of Birmingham, Alabama, and First National Bank of Huntsville, Alabama. 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. 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 $24 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 financial crisis of 2007–2008, 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. In July 2018, the company sold its insurance operations to BB&T.
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.
