Regions Wins Votes, Quizzed on Expenses at Annual Meeting

Regions Financial (RF) won shareholder approval of all its proxy items Thursday despite questions about management's spending habits — like on the corporate jet.

A shareholder quizzed Regions' president and chief executive, Grayson Hall, about luxury expenses after his speech at the annual shareholder meeting, two Birmingham newspapers reported.

That exchange, and the rest of the Q&A, flew under the radar for anyone watching the company's webcast. The webcast, released by Regions hours after the meeting, only shows Hall's opening remarks and a four-minute testimonial of executives.

Shareholders raised a few questions, including whether the corporate jet was "an unnecessary expense" and if further expense cuts would ensue, the newspapers reported and a source confirmed. Hall vowed to keep cutting expenses as the company has the last several years.

"I can assure you that this management team wants to never be in the position of being criticized for wasting corporate assets," replied Hall, according to the Birmingham Business Journal. "We would not do that. And I will assure you on the subject that you brought up, we will continue to evaluate that, as we have been, going forward."

The jet has been a sore topic for Regions since 2008, when the Wall Street Journal named it among several banks in the Troubled Asset Relief Program whose executives used corporate jets for personal reasons during the financial crisis.

Hall took over the bank in 2010 and management has aggressively slashed costs. Regions reported net income of $145 million, or 11 cents per share, in the first quarter — exceeding the consensus estimate of 8 cents a share.

"We've made necessary and substantial changes to our risk management profile by significantly reducing our exposure to certain high-risk assets and businesses," Hall said in his opening remarks. "With our enhanced capital planning practices and our financial performance … we anticipate an even stronger capital position going forward."

Hall identified some milestones in Regions' capital position this year: it raised $900 million in capital and repaid $3.5 billion to Tarp. Region's board and management can now "seriously consider future cap deployment actions," including perhaps, acquisitions, Hall said.

If regulators approve, "we can consider our ability to deploy capital to support organic growth, to return to a more normalized dividend, to engage in share repurchase and even to consider opportunistic acquisitions," he said.

Hall reportedly dodged a question by a stockholder seeking an update on reports of an investigation of Regions' audit committee for allegedly delaying disclosure of some defaulted loans.

The rather low-key meeting ended with Regions' board receiving approval of all its proxy initiatives, including a say on pay vote. All 16 board nominees were elected for one-year terms. Regions also prevailed on a proposal filed by five New York pension funds that requested semiannual disclosure of political contributions. The final tallies were not yet available.

Regions' share price finished at $6.19 on Thursday, down 1.3%.