Regions Bank 2011 Annual Report Download - page 12

REGIONS 2011 ANNUAL REPORT10
To date, we’ve helped more than 42,000 people
stay in their homes, and our foreclosure rate is
less than half the national average.
Our Commercial and Industrial segment fi n-
ished the year with loan balances up $2 billion
for 2011. Throughout the year, we continued
building out our specialty lending groups – like
Healthcare, Technology and Defense, and En-
ergy, which produced more than $2.6 billion in
loans outstanding.
Diversifying revenue streams and improving
client profi tability are critical to strengthening
our fi nancial performance. And by delivering
all Regions has to offer to our business clients,
getting paid an acceptable return for our credit
risk, and exiting unprofi table relationships, we
will expect to deliver improved results.
Fair and Responsible Banking. We see a com-
mitment to fair and responsible banking as an
important part of our dedication to providing the
very best customer service. Beyond complying
with fair lending laws, our obligation to serve
our customers as a fair and responsible bank-
ing partner is rooted in our values, our trust and
integrity, and our business strategy.
Acting responsibly is not new. Regions associ-
ates have always been committed to doing what
is right, and it’s about much more than comply-
ing with policies. We have enhanced our tradi-
tional fair lending practices, such as judgmen-
tal underwriting and discretionary pricing, to
encompass the entire loan life cycle, including
servicing and collections. We have implemented
a robust fair and responsible lending program
that will improve transparency in our lending
policies and practices, as well as educating all
associates so that fair lending is an ingrained
part of how we do business every day.
We intend to be an industry leader in this area by
offering quality products at a fair price, by treat-
ing customers consistently at every phase of the
lending process, by keeping customers informed
about their banking options and by helping
economically challenged communities thrive.
Providing consistently good service to all cus
tom-
ers and strengthening our focus on fair and
responsible banking practices is not only good
for business, but also the right thing to do for
customers and communities.
Enhance Risk Management
In 2011, we increased resources and oversight
to ensure we have the right core enterprise risk
management system in place. While there is cost
associated in building this type of comprehen-
sive infrastructure, the result of our investment
will create a long-term benefi t for shareholders.
We consider this initiative to be the responsibility
of all our associates each and every day.
As part of our effort to improve risk and qual-
ity control measures, we moved all underwrit-
ing functions in Business Banking, Community
Banking and Private Banking to the Risk Man-
agement Group. We believe this structure will
create consistency and streamline processes
so that we clearly understand, mitigate and
document the risk associated with our credit
relationships. In addition, realigning the credit
functions within Risk Management will allow our
geography associates to provide increased fo-
cus on client acquisition, expansion and reten-
tion activities.
Customer Assistance – in Good Times and Bad.
Credit quality plays a big role in risk manage-
ment, and we believe there should be a shared
responsibility between Regions and our cus-
tomers when they face tough times and have
trouble making their loan payment. That’s why
we are proactive about working with customers