Regions Financial third-quarter earnings rise 11% to $611 million, or $0.71 a share

Regions Financial Corp. (RF) said Friday that third-quarter earnings rose 11% to $611 million, or $0.71 per diluted share, from a year earlier. The figures appeared in an 8-K filing and an attached press release.

Adjusted diluted EPS was $0.73 a share, against $0.63 a year earlier. The gap between reported and adjusted results was mainly $15 million in securities losses.

Here's how the company did:

• Diluted EPS: $0.71 vs. $0.61 a year earlier
• Net income available to common shareholders: $611 million vs. $548 million a year earlier
• Total revenue: $1,973 million vs. $1,916 million a year earlier

Total revenue rose 3.0% from a year earlier. Net interest income grew 3.3% to $1,298 million.

The net interest margin was 3.68%, up from 3.59% a year earlier.

Non-interest income rose 2.4% to $675 million. Capital markets income was $107 million, up 2.9%.

The filing said the quarter was a record for capital markets income excluding customer derivative valuation adjustments.

Wealth management income fell 2.7% from the second quarter to $146 million but rose 5.0% from a year earlier. The filing also described a record quarter for Treasury Management income.

Chairman, President and CEO John Turner said, "Strong credit quality, continued momentum in fee-based businesses, and economically vibrant markets throughout our footprint all contributed to our third quarter results."

Non-interest expense rose 1.4% to $1,118 million. Salaries and employee benefits were $694 million, up 3.4% from a year earlier.

The efficiency ratio improved to 56.2% from 57.2% a year earlier.

Average loans were $99,183 million, up 2.6% from a year earlier. Ending loans were $99,827 million, up 3.9%.

Average commercial and industrial loans rose 4.7% to $51,910 million.

Average deposits were $129,140 million, down 1.2% from the second quarter and 0.3% from a year earlier. The filing attributes the corporate deposit decline to a limited number of commercial clients that moved interest-bearing balances into off-balance sheet products.

The company said it continued to manage about $16 billion of excess commercial client balances through off-balance sheet investment solutions.

Net charge-offs were $72 million, or 0.29% of average loans on an annualized basis, down from 0.42% in the second quarter. The provision for credit losses was $68 million, unchanged from the prior quarter.

The allowance for credit losses was $1,609 million, or 1.61% of loans. Non-performing loans fell to 0.59% of loans from 0.67%.

The Common Equity Tier 1 ratio was estimated at 10.8%, compared with 10.7% in the second quarter and 10.9% a year earlier. The company repurchased about 3 million shares for $95 million and declared $255 million in common dividends.

Total available liquidity was about $64 billion as of Sept. 30, 2026. The company said that is sufficient to cover uninsured deposits at a ratio of about 170%.

For the fourth quarter, the company expects net interest income to rise 1% to 2% from the third quarter, with a net interest margin of about 3.70%. The expectations assume the next Federal Reserve rate increase occurs in December and long-term rates remain stable.

For 2026, the company expects net interest income to rise 2.5% to 4% from $4,991 million in 2025. It expects adjusted non-interest income to rise 3% to 5% from $2,585 million, toward the lower end of that range.

The company also expects adjusted non-interest expense to rise 1.5% to 3.5% from $4,331 million, and average loans and average deposits to rise by low single digits.

It expects net charge-offs of 40 to 50 basis points of average loans, toward the lower end, and an effective tax rate of 20.5% to 21.5%. Fourth-quarter Capital Markets revenue is expected in a range of $90 million to $105 million.

Full-time equivalent associate headcount was 19,968 at quarter end, compared with 20,003 in the second quarter and 19,675 a year earlier.

During the quarter the company sold about $845 million of agency CMBS and CMOs at a $15 million pre-tax loss and reinvested the proceeds in agency MBS.

The adjusted figures are non-GAAP measures. The company reconciles them to GAAP results in a financial supplement attached to the 8-K.