Regions Financial Corp. (RF)

Regions Financial reported third quarter 2026 earnings of $611 million, or $0.71 a diluted share, on 16 October 1. Adjusted earnings were $622 million 1. Reported earnings were 11 percent higher, and profit per diluted share 16 percent higher, than in the third quarter of 2025 1.

Total revenue was $1,973 million, up 3.0 percent from a year earlier 1. Net interest income, the gap between what the bank earns on loans and securities and what it pays for funding, was $1,298 million 1. The net interest margin was 3.68 percent 1.

Credit costs eased as net charge-offs, loans written off as uncollectable, were $72 million, or an annualized 29 basis points of average loans 1. Capital markets income, fees from deal advice and underwriting, hit a record, up 27 percent from the second quarter 1.

On the call, management guided fourth quarter net interest income up 1 percent to 2 percent from the third quarter, assuming the Federal Reserve raises rates in December 3. Chief executive John Turner said Regions is not a candidate for acquisitions of other banks until its largest technology project is done 3. That project moves customers to a new deposit system through 2027 3.

Regions became a bank holding company in 1971, and much of its growth through the November 2006 merger with AmSouth Bancorporation came from buying other banks and thrifts 9. The present corporation dates from 1 July 2004, when it became the successor by merger to Union Planters Corporation and the former Regions Financial Corporation 9.

By the end of 2007 the combined bank had total assets of approximately $141.0 billion and deposits of approximately $94.8 billion, spread over almost 2,000 banking offices 9. By the end of 2025 total assets were approximately $158.8 billion across 1,247 banking offices 2.

In January 2012 Regions agreed to sell its Memphis brokerage unit, Morgan Keegan, to Raymond James Financial for $930 million 7. American Banker said the unit had become mired in legal issues from funds hit hard by the subprime meltdown 7. Talk Business reported the sale was expected to help Regions raise capital and eventually repay a $3.5 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program payment to the Treasury 8.

Later Regions turned to smaller purchases of nonbank firms, a piecemeal approach that Banking Dive said targeted nonbank niche financial services companies to bolster segments of its business 5.

It bought Highland Associates, a Birmingham asset manager focused on the health care industry, in 2019 and Ascentium Capital, a Texas equipment finance firm, early in 2020 6. In June 2021 it agreed to pay $960 million for EnerBank USA, a home improvement lender with about $2.8 billion in loans 6.

Rising rates then lifted earnings power, as net interest income on a taxable-equivalent basis rose $538 million in 2023 from 2022, and the net interest margin rose 54 basis points to 3.90 percent 10. The annual report tied the rise to significantly higher short-term and long-term market interest rates and average loan growth 10.

Profit did not follow the margin, as net income was $2,521 million in 2021, $2,245 million in 2022 and $2,074 million in 2023, while non-interest expense rose from $3,747 million to $4,416 million 10.

Net income fell to $1,893 million in 2024 and recovered to $2,156 million in 2025, with diluted earnings per share of $1.93 and then $2.30 2. Non-interest income, mainly fees, rose to $2.5 billion in 2025 from $2.3 billion in 2024, helped by smaller losses on securities repositioning 2.

Net interest income rose $172 million in 2025, and funding costs fell to 1.54 percent from 1.73 percent as deposit costs dropped in a declining rate environment 2. The Board began a $2.5 billion repurchase program on 20 April 2022, and about 78 million shares had been bought back by the end of 2025, reducing shareholders' equity by $1.7 billion 2.

What Regions is

Regions Financial Corporation is a financial holding company headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, operating in the South, Midwest and Texas 2. At the end of 2025 it had total assets of approximately $158.8 billion and total deposits of approximately $131.1 billion 2. Its third quarter release gives assets of $163 billion and says it is a member of the S&P 500 Index 1.

It reports in three segments: Corporate Bank, Consumer Bank and Wealth Management, with treasury, the securities portfolio and wholesale funding in Other 2.

Corporate Bank

The Corporate Bank is the commercial banking arm, covering commercial and industrial loans, commercial real estate and investor real estate lending, equipment leasing and capital markets work such as underwriting, syndication and advisory 2. Its customers are corporate, middle market and commercial real estate developers and investors 2.

Average business loans were $67,262 million in the third quarter, led by commercial and industrial loans of $51,910 million and investor real estate of $9,992 million, which grew 9.3 percent from a year earlier 1. Average deposits in the segment were $39,505 million 1.

Management said investor real estate growth came from bridge financing in multifamily housing, because elevated long-term interest rates have slowed permanent financing 1. Turner described a little weakness in multifamily, primarily in Texas, with softness in absorption rates 3.

Consumer Bank

The Consumer Bank is the branch network and digital channels, offering residential mortgages, home equity lines and loans, credit cards and other consumer loans with the matching deposits 2. Average consumer loans were $31,921 million, down 2.6 percent from a year earlier 1.

The release says other consumer loans include the home improvement financing portfolio 1. Turner said softness in residential mortgage and in Regions Home Improvement Finance reflected the higher rate environment and muted housing market activity 3. Average segment deposits were $80,116 million 1.

On the call management reported that its mass affluent customer base grew 8 percent from a year earlier, with 85 percent of those customers sourced from the existing retail base 3.

Wealth Management

Wealth Management offers individuals, businesses, governments and non-profits credit, trust and investment management, asset management, retirement and savings, and estate planning 2. Wealth management income was $146 million in the third quarter, down 2.7 percent from a record second quarter, mainly on lower production volumes 1.

Turner said Regions would likely end the year with a record year in Wealth Management 3.

Branches, people and workforce

At the end of 2025 Regions had 1,247 branch outlets and 1,786 ATMs, led by Florida with 270, Tennessee with 194 and Alabama with 184 2. It had 19,969 full-time equivalent employees 2.

John Turner is chairman, president and chief executive 1. On 11 August 2026 the company said Chief Administrative Officer David Keenan would retire on 4 January 2027, stepping down from that post on 1 September 2026 4. Katherine Danella became chief administrative officer and John Jordan head of consumer banking from that date 4.

Problems and risks

Asset quality improved, with business criticized loans at 4.71 percent of business loans from 5.01 percent a quarter earlier, and non-performing loans at 0.59 percent of loans 1. Professional, legal and regulatory expense rose to $35 million on higher legal settlement costs 1.

Average deposits fell 1.2 percent in the quarter, as a limited number of large commercial clients moved interest-bearing balances to off balance sheet products, and Regions manages approximately $16 billion of such excess client balances 1.

The umbrella, in words

Regions conducts its banking through Regions Bank, an Alabama state-chartered commercial bank 2. Exhibit 21 to the annual report lists its subsidiaries, among them Regions Securities LLC, Regions Equipment Finance Corporation, Regions Investment Management, Highland Associates, Clearsight Advisors and several Ascentium entities 11.

Regions Securities and the former BlackArch Securities are registered broker-dealers, while Regions Investment Management and Highland Associates are registered investment advisers 2. Its headquarters occupy the main banking facility of Regions Bank at 1900 Fifth Avenue North in Birmingham 2.

Among holders, Vanguard Capital Management reported beneficial ownership of 7.62 percent of the common stock, 65,129,715 shares, as of 31 March 2026 in a Schedule 13G 12.

For the fourth quarter, the company guided net interest income up 1 percent to 2 percent, assuming the Federal Reserve raises rates in December, and a net interest margin of approximately 3.70 percent 3.

Management said new fixed-rate assets were priced approximately 100 basis points above the maturing ones in the third quarter, and expected that advantage to widen to between 100 and 125 points in the fourth quarter 3.

For the full year it expects average loans and deposits each up low single digits from 2025 3. It expects adjusted non-interest income up 3 percent to 5 percent and adjusted non-interest expense up 1.5 percent to 3.5 percent 3.

It expects full-year net charge-offs of 40 to 50 basis points of loans, trending toward the low end, and fourth quarter capital markets revenue within a range of $90 million to $105 million 3.

The largest project is the core deposit system, and Turner said a pilot for associates, friends and family would begin within a week or two of the call 3. A larger pilot would start in the first quarter of 2027, he said, with customer conversions running through 2027 3. They would finish toward the end of the second quarter into the third quarter 3.

On capital, the Board authorized repurchases of up to $3.0 billion from 1 January 2026 through 31 December 2027 2. Regions repurchased approximately 3 million shares for $95 million in the third quarter 1.

Turner said Regions has no interest in acquisitions of other banks for now, because the technology project is consuming everyone's attention internally and must be finished first 3.

On leadership, the company said that David Keenan would retire on 4 January 2027, with Katherine Danella taking over as chief administrative officer from 1 September 2026 4.