Boston, MA 02/11/2014 (wallstreetpr) – Regions Financial Corporation (NYSE:RF) is the largest bank in Alabama. Lately, whenever it announces its latest financial quarterly results, it becomes evident that the bank is struggling with the issue of its expenses. Regions Financial seems unable to cut down on expenditure, and until the day when it will do this, the bank will continue to suffer in terms of realizing the levels of profit it desires. When you add the high expenses to mortgages decline, then you may finally appreciate that the bank has to tackle two issues with serious ramifications for its business.
Regions Financial Corporation (NYSE:RF) has been unable to lend as much as it wants. This is necessitated byte tepid economic situation that is still prevalent in Alabama, and the rest of the US. Therefore, in order to see a major increase in its profits, the bank has no choice than to work hard and reduce it expenses. Equally important, is the need for the bank to embark on convincing customers to come for its mortgage services. The latter is not easy considering that the mortgage industry in the US is not enjoying the best of times currently, and this may continue for a while.
The bank says that it raised more than $219 million in earnings during the fourth quarter of 2013. Similarly, the bank says that its full year earnings for 2013 were $1.1 billion. Were it not for certain expenses and other relayed items that reduced the bank’s net income by as much as $75 million, Regions Financial Corporation (NYSE:RF) should have posted much better results for the period in question. A year ago, and during the same period, Regions Financial Corporation (NYSE:RF) reported that it raised $261 million in net income. A year ago, the bank’s net income for the entire year was $1.05 billion.
In the absence of the huge expenses that the bank has to pay, one would be very pessimistic to believe that Regions Financial Corporation (NYSE:RF) would be unable to do much better than it has done according to the latest financial results. The bank had to deal with close to $3 million in expenses that cropped up after consolidating the operations of close to30 branches. The bank also had to settle a $56 million regulatory charge, in addition to a $40 million gain that arose from its adjustments that emerged from the valuation done on its debt portfolio.
In 2012, Regions Financial Corporation (NYSE:RF) sold its brokerage firm or arm, Morgan Keegan, to Raymond James Financial, for which it had to settle a $14 million charge. The company says that it used 2013 to lay the foundation needed in order to position itself for better performance over the long-term, and enjoy sustainable growth. The company hopes that the foundation it laid down in 2013 will also come in handy in terms of helping Regions Financial to encounter positive trends regarding loan growth.
Regions Financial Corporation (NYSE:RF) remains Alabama’s biggest bank. It has managed to report profits, although these have been diminishing for quite some time now. However, from the look of things, Regions is being proactive in terms of coming up with cost cutting measures that will make it more profitable than it has been up to this point.
