Its new president and chief executive officer says Regions Insurance Group in Memphis would like to branch out within the 15-state footprint of its parent, Regions Financial Corp., and into all 50 states within three years.
David L. Bowlin, whose hiring to lead the newly created Regions insurance unit was announced last week, said a main goal will be a disciplined acquisition strategy. “We would like to do acquisitions in Regions’ footprint,” he said.
Regions Insurance has agencies in Arkansas and Louisiana, Mr. Bowlin noted, and Birmingham, Ala.-based Regions Financial has offices in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Kentucky, Iowa, Missouri, Mississippi, Tennessee, Illinois, and Texas for a footprint covering the South and parts of the Midwest and Southwest.
It already has bought Rebsamen Insurance in Arkansas and the ICT Group in Louisiana — each the largest independent agency in its state. “Down the road, we would want to do some agency deals,” Mr. Bowlin said, though he could not specify a timetable.
“Given the insurance marketplace right now, a lot of companies want to sell, and we have a compelling story to tell,” he said.
“In the next three years, I would like to have an agency in every state,” he said, but Regions has a disciplined approach to deals. “They must share our values, and management must be able to stay on and work with us,” he said, and a pricing model must be met. He declined to discuss pricing.
“We also want to buy agencies that are results-oriented, and we want people to be focused on growth opportunities,” he said.
Another major goal “is to consolidate all of the diverse insurance operations of Regions Financial,” he said, explaining that “Regions had four or five companies that have been autonomous subsidiaries. We will now be bringing those under a holding company structure.”
Regions Insurance Group was created as the umbrella structure for all the company’s insurance subsidiaries, which generate annual premiums of roughly $800 million, said Mr. Bowlin.
Cross-selling opportunities are another priority, he said. Regions has millions of customers in the bank and other sister companies, he said, and insurance products will be marketed to all of them.
Mr. Bowlin joined Regions from Summit Global Partners Inc., a Dallas insurance brokerage and risk management and benefits consulting firm, where he was the president and chief executive officer of retail operations.
Regions Financial is a full-service provider of retail and commercial banking, securities brokerage, mortgages, and insurance products and services. It has about $84.1 billion of assets. Its banking subsidiaries, Regions Bank and Union Planters Bank, operate about 1,400 offices and 1,700 ATMs across a geographic footprint in the South, Midwest and Texas.
Regions Insurance, which is ranked as the 10th-largest bank-owned insurance agency in the United States, offers a full range of personal and commercial insurance products, including property, casualty, life, health, and accident coverage. The core of its agency operation is Rebsamen Insurance in Little Rock, Mr. Bowlin said.
Regions made its entry into the insurance business with the Rebsamen purchase in February 2001. At the time the agency generated $26 million of insurance revenue annually and was among the nation’s top 100 in terms of revenue.
