Businessmodel of Regions Financial

Customer Segments

Regions Financial offers a broad portfolio of banking products and services, designed to suit the needs of a varied customer base. The Company’s customers can be organised broadly into the following categories:

• General Consumers, including general consumer across various demographics, including homebuyers, and small business owners;
• Commercial and Corporate Clients, including small, medium, and large enterprises and employers across multiple sectors; and
• Institutional Clients, including various local, state, and federal government bodies, public sector entities, financial institutions, and non-profit institutions. Regions Financial does not name any of its major clients in its annual report or on its website. The Company’s three largest markets for its lending activities, however, are the real estate, manufacturing, and healthcare sectors.

Regions Financial serves a large domestic client base across the US, with its operations based principally in the country’s south eastern states. The Company has a significant presence in Alabama, Florida, and Tennessee.

Value Propositions

Regions Financial provides value to its customers in the following ways:

• Its reputation and industry standing, with the Company an established provider of banking and financial services to customers in the US, with a track record for providing effective and reliable services;
• Its accessibility, with the Company serving its clients through multiple service channels, notably its network of branches and its online banking platform, as well through dedicated direct service personnel;
• Its extensive branch network, with the Company operating a network of more than 1,600 branches across 16 US states, offering convenient access to personnel across its various operating regions;
• Its use of technology, with the Company employing state-of-the-art technology systems across its operating segments, to ensure that its services and products are secure, effective, and efficient; and
• Its industry expertise and experience, with the Company employing specialist financial and banking professionals across its operating segments, as well as a team of experienced industry professionals. ### Channels

Regions Financial operates a website at www.regions.com, through which it provides information on its various products, services, branch locations, and corporate activities. Its website also hosts an online banking platform, which allows customers to perform basis banking functions, such as transfers, payments, and account management. The Company provides a similar level of functionality through its mobile applications, which is available on iOS and Android platforms. Customers can additionally locate nearby branches and make appointments via the Regions Financial website.

Regions Financial serves its consumer clients primarily through its network of retail branches spread primarily across the south eastern US. This network comprises 1,627 branches across 16 states, including in Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana, and North Carolina. The Company employs a large team of in-branch service personnel to deal directly with clients. The Company also provides telephone banking services and employs dedicated teams to serve the Company’s commercial and institutional clients.

Regions Financial also serves clients through a network of intermediaries, including various brokers, agents, and independent and dually-employed financial consultants.

Customer Relationships

Regions Financial provides a range of services to its customers on a self-service basis through its website an online and mobile banking platform. These channels allow customers to make bank transfers, pay bills, manage account details, and make in-branch appointments without interacting directly with members of the Company’s sales and service personnel.

Regions Financial provides a greater degree of personal care to its consumer clients through its extensive branch network, employing dedicated service staff to consult directly with customers, respond to queries and enquiries, and handle complaints. The Company is able to provide certain services and products that are tailored to the individual circumstances of each client. This also true of the Company’s commercial clients, who are provided personalised advice and support.

Regions Financial provides ongoing support to its customers, with its larger commercial and institutional clients having their own account management teams. Customers are able to contact the Company’s dedicated support staff over the phone and online in order to receive personalised responses to queries and enquiries. Customers are additionally able to follow the activities of Regions Financial, and interact with its personnel directly, through its various social media accounts, including with Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Google+.

Key Activities

Regions Financial functions as a financial holding company. Through its various subsidiaries and operating divisions, notably its Regions Bank unit, an Alabama state-chartered commercial bank, the Company provides a range of banking and financial services.

The Company aligns its operations into three reportable business segments: Corporate Bank, through which it provides commercial banking services, including commercial and industrial, commercial real estate and investor real estate lending; Consumer Bank, through which it operates an extensive network of retail branches, providing consumer banking products and services related to residential first mortgages, small business loans, home equity lines and loans, consumer credit cards, and other consumer loans; Wealth Management, through which it offers individuals, businesses, governmental institutions and non-profit entities a range of solutions to enable transfer of wealth.

Key Partners

Regions Financial works closely with various companies and organisations to provide efficient and effective services to its clients. These partners can be categorised broadly as:

• Supplier and Vendor Partners, including suppliers of services, technologies, and equipment that provide support to the company’s enterprise wide operations, as well as companies to which certain no-technical functions can be outsourced;
• Channel and Distribution Partners, comprising the Company’s network of agents, brokers, and independent and dually-employed financial consultants that provide services on the Company’s behalf, and extend its sales and marketing reach;
• Strategic and Alliance Partners, comprising various market leading companies, with which the Company collaborates on a range of projects, including marketing and branding; and
• Community and Social Partners, comprising various non-profits and charitable organisations with which the Company works on social and community projects in the US. Regions Financial has a number of partnerships in place. This includes a partnership with online lender Fundation, a tie-up with start-up company Avant, and a technology partnership with Samsung to integrate Samsung Pay into its services.

Key Resources

Regions Financial’s key resources are its financial reserves, its online and mobile platforms, its IT and communications infrastructure, its network of branches and offices, its partnerships, and its personnel.

While Regions Financial utilises a range of technologies in its operations, searches of records published by the US Patent and Trademark Office identified no patent applications filed in the Company’s name. It does, however, own and or lease a number of physical properties across the US, notably its network of offices and more than 1,600 branches.

Cost Structure

Regions Financial incurs costs in relation to the development of its online platform, the maintenance of its IT and communications infrastructure, the procurement of professional services, the payment of regulatory fees and charges, the operation of its branch and office networks, the implementation of marketing and advertising campaigns, the management of its partnerships, and the retention of its personnel.

In 2015 Regions Financial recorded total non-interest expenses in the amount of $3.61 billion. This included salaries and employee benefits totalling $1.88 billion, net occupancy expenses totalling $361 million, furniture and equipment expenses totalling $303 million, outside services costs totalling $159 million, and marketing costs totalling $98 million.

Revenue Streams

Regions Financial generates revenue through the provision of various banking and financial services, including wealth management, real estate lending, and consumer banking products. The Company principally generates revenue in the form of various service fees and interest income.

In 2015 Regions Financial generated non-interest income from continuing operations in the amount of $2.1 billion, up on the $1.9 billion generated by the Company in 2014. The Company attributed this increase to insurance proceeds recognised in 2015 related to the settlement of a class-action lawsuit.