A US-based banking and financial services company. It has been a major financier of private prison companies CoreCivic and GEO Group.
Regions Financial Corporation is a bank holding and financial services company headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama. Regions conducts banking operations through its principal subsidiary, Regions Bank. In 2022, the company operated 1,286 bank branches, primarily in the Southeastern U.S., and generated $7.2 billion in revenue.
Regions has been one of several major financiers of private prison and immigrant detention companies, having provided revolving lines of credit, term loans, and bond underwriting services to CoreCivic and GEO Group. While other major private prison financiers announced in 2019 that they would exit their relationships with private prison companies, Regions has made no such announcement.
In light of plans to build new CoreCivic-operated prisons in Alabama, activists with Alabama Students Against Prisons, Black Lives Matter, and other groups launched a campaign demanding that Regions Bank end its relationship with the private prison company. In February 2021, the bank announced that it would honor its existing contract with CoreCivic, which was due to end in 2023, but that it would not extend "additional credit services to CoreCivic" or provide "CoreCivic with financing specifically for the construction of the prisons to be built in Alabama."
Two months later, the bank succeeded U.S. Bank as the new trustee, or main bank, of a $450 million bond agreement with CoreCivic. The agreement is set to mature in 2026.
In 2022, CoreCivic signed a new credit agreement, replacing a 2018 $1 billion credit facility. Regions Bank was part of the 2018 agreement, having provided a $96 million revolving line of credit and a $24 million term loan. Unlike in previous years, public disclosures regarding the 2022 agreement only named the administrative agent, Alter Domus. While other lenders are also involved, they were not named. Therefore, Regions Bank's current involvement is unclear.
The bank's known past involvement includes:
- In September 2015, CoreCivic issued $250 million of bonds, with a maturity date of 2022. As part of a syndicate of banks, Regions Bank underwrote $20 million worth of these bonds.
- In April 2016, GEO Group issued $350 million worth of bonds, with a maturity date of 2026. As part of a syndicate of banks, Regions Bank underwrote $10.5 million worth of these bonds.
- In October 2017, CoreCivic issued $250 million of bonds, with a maturity date of 2027. As part of a syndicate of banks, Regions Bank underwrote an undisclosed proportion of these bonds.