Regions Bank posts $355M profits

Birmingham, Ala.-based Regions Financial Corp. (NYSE: RF) recorded $355 million in second-quarter earnings, a 78.4 percent increase from $199 million in net income in the same quarter of the prior year.

During the quarter, the company - which operates three Regions Bank branches in Springfield - completed its repurchase of $3.5 billion of Series A preferred stock issued under the U.S. Treasury Department's Troubled Asset Relief Program. The company had initiated a common stock public offering of 152.9 million shares to repay the Treasury, according to Springfield Business Journal archives.

Through the sale of Morgan Keegan & Co Inc. - completed during the second quarter - the bank earned $4 million from discontinued operations, according to a news release.

"We continued to make incremental progress on many key fronts and are pleased with the improvement of our financial performance despite considerable economic and political uncertainty, and an uneven economic recovery," Regions President and CEO Grayson Hall said in the release. "By focusing on initiatives that we can control, we continue to drive sustainable and prudent growth across our business."

Other second-quarter financial notes:

• Net interest income increased 1.3 percent to $838 million from $827 million in second-quarter 2011.
• Noninterest revenue from continuing operations was $507 million, a 3 percent decline, while noninterest expense dropped 7.8 percent to $842 million.
• Consumer loan production totaled $2.8 billion in the second quarter, a 24 percent increase from last year.

Regions operates roughly 1,700 banks in 16 states. As of June 30, the company's assets were $122 billion, the release said.    

The company's shares were trading at $6.75 as of 9:07 a.m., compared to a 52-week range of $2.82 to $6.98.