10 Hidden Gems in the Regions Financial Annual Report (RF)

Regions Financial Corporation (NYSE: RF) is one of the many widely held companies which filed its annual report under form 10-K with the SEC.  Investors rarely look through these annual reports due to the length and how dry they are, but this is where “the hidden gems and factoids” are that investors often overlook or fail to know about.  Not all points are bad.

In our review we have taken out ten of these lesser-known factoids for review and added color where appropriate.

Regions today… Here is the current breakdown of branches by state: Alabama-244; Arkansas-100; Florida-397; Georgia-142; Illinois-68; Indiana-64; Iowa-13; Kentucky-16; Louisiana-118; Mississippi-147; Missouri-67; North Carolina-9; South Carolina-36; Tennessee-263; Texas-85; Virginia-3….FOR A GRAND TOTAL of 1,772.  As of December 31, 2010, Regions and its subsidiaries had 27,829 employees.  Total salaries and employee benefits increased $49 million, or 2 percent, in 2010. The year-over-year increase in salaries and employee benefits cost is due to higher pension and 401(k) expense as explained below. Although salaries and benefits expense increased, headcount was reduced approximately 2 percent in 2010

Financial Summary… At December 31, 2010, Regions had total consolidated assets of approximately $132.4 billion, total consolidated deposits of approximately $94.6 billion and total consolidated stockholders’ equity of approximately $16.7 billion.  The bank’s market cap as of Thursday’s close was $9.3 billion.  Also, don’t forget that it owns Morgan Keegan & Company with approximately 1,200 financial advisors offering products and services from over 321 offices.  It also owns Regions Insurance Group, Inc., Regions Equipment Finance Corporation, and some reinsurance operations.

Available capital… Regions had interest-bearing deposits in other banks of $4.9 billion, and the loan-to-deposit ratio was 88 percent; borrowing capacity with the Federal Reserve Discount Window was $16.6 billion based on available collateral and borrowing capacity with the FHLB was $1.2 billion based on available collateral. During 2010, the provision for loan losses decreased to $2.9 billion compared to $3.5 billion in 2009. Regions noted on its capital ratios, “The minimum guideline to be considered well-capitalized for Tier 1 capital and Total capital is 6.0 percent and 10.0 percent, respectively. At December 31, 2010, Regions’ consolidated Tier 1 capital ratio was 12.40 percent and its Total capital ratio was 16.35 percent.”