Regions Completes Changeover of Union Planters Banks

Regions Financial Corporation (NYSE:RF) has successfully finished the third and final phase of converting Union Planters customers to the Regions banking systems. This completes the integration of the two banks, which merged in July 2004, establishing one of the premier financial networks spanning 16 states throughout the South, Midwest and Texas.

"We have achieved our goal of providing the best of what both companies had to offer, and converting our customers with minimal impact," said Regions President and Chief Executive Officer Jack Moore. "Not only have we completed the merger in advance of our original plans, our customer base has grown during that period.

"Our successful merger creates new opportunities to improve the profitability of our existing businesses and realize additional growth within our expanded geographic footprint," added Moore. "This integration positions Regions for improved returns through operating efficiencies across our banking groups and the strengthening of our customer relationships.

"The integration process has also established internal enterprise change management capabilities that we believe will help us as we take Regions to the next level," Moore added. "The corporate governance structure we've built will keep all associates aligned on the right priorities and better manage our time and resources."

The first conversion took place in April of this year in most of the Regions and Union Planters overlap markets in Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, North Alabama, South Kentucky and eastern and middle Tennessee. The second conversion in August, involved branches in Mississippi and the remainder of Tennessee, including the greater Memphis area, the headquarters city for Regions Mortgage, Regions Insurance Group and Morgan Keegan & Company Inc., the company's investment and brokerage arm.

The final conversion, which took place Nov. 4-Nov. 8, involved more than 800,000 customers in 320 branches in South Florida and the Midwest. Those Union Planters branches in South Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky and Missouri had been operating under the Regions name since January.

"Awareness of Regions in those markets has grown significantly since the branding change in the first quarter," Moore said. "This made the conversion to the Regions systems relatively seamless for those customers."

The November conversion remained on schedule and with no service disruptions despite the impact of Hurricane Wilma in South Florida just two weeks prior to the event.

"Through the hard work of our local bankers and support from our Corporate Services teams, we had more than 90 percent of our branches back online in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties in Florida when the conversion began," explained Moore. "By the end of the conversion, we completed the other South Florida branches and ATMs.

"Now that we have this tremendous effort completed, we can focus on growing the company profitably and improving our returns," Moore said. "We are proud of what we have done and confident about our future."

About Regions Financial Corporation

Regions Financial Corporation (NYSE: RF), headquartered in Birmingham, Ala., is a full-service provider of retail and commercial banking, trust, securities brokerage, mortgage and insurance products and services. Regions had $84.6 billion in assets as of Sept. 30, 2005, making it one of the nation's Top 15 banks. Regions' banking subsidiary, Regions Bank, operates some 1,300 offices and a 1,600-ATM network across a 16-state geographic footprint in the South, Midwest and Texas. Its investment and securities brokerage, trust and asset management division, Morgan Keegan & Company Inc., provides services from over 280 offices. Additional information about Regions, which is a member of both the Forbes and Fortune 500 and has one of the top mortgage companies in the United States, can be found at www.regions.com.

What are people saying about mortgages today:

Rates on 30-year mortgages edged down last week to a seven-month low. Mortgage-giant Freddie Mac reported Thursday that 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages fell to 6.3 percent, down slightly from 6.31 percent two weeks ago. It put rates at the lowest level since they were at 6.24 percent the first week of March.

Bank of Hawaii, Central Pacific Bank, Territorial Savings Bank and Wells Fargo Home Mortgages all cut their 30-year mortgage rates to 5.75 percent this week.

Most people think of a mortgage as a means to an end. After all, you buy a house, not a home loan. But a mortgage is much more than the path to homeownership. It is a financial instrument that must be managed, just like any other financial investment.