At Regions, Our Reputation Matters

“As a bank, we’re only as good as our reputation, and every one of us has a role in managing it,” — Andrew Nix, Chief Governance Officer at Regions.

The products and services that Regions Bank provides are key to its success.

How the bank treats customers and associates and how it serves the people in the community are equally important.

But how Regions Bank is perceived—the trust all stakeholders have in our business—is also critical to its financial position and future growth opportunities.

Reputational Risk is one of eight risk types recognized and monitored by the company. The Reputation Management department, which is part of Andrew Nix’s Governance & Securities division within Legal, closely monitors activity that could impact how the company is viewed by all stakeholders. They keep an eye on social media posts, news stories, customer complaints and other forums to continually check the pulse of our reputation. They also serve as trusted advisors to business groups on issues of concern.

The Reputation Management team recently launched a program called Reputation Matters that features Nix talking with leaders across the company whose teams play an active role in managing Regions’ reputation. These discussions remind viewers how our business activities can impact the bank’s reputation and that all associates have a role in managing it.

Clara Green, Regions Head of Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion, kicked the series off earlier this year with a discussion about how the company’s DEI efforts enhance our reputation. Ensuring Regions maintains a diverse, equitable, and inclusive work environment is part of our business strategy, it’s the right thing to do, and it’s a measurement of our success.

Our approach to DEI also has a direct impact on our reputation. It’s important that customers, associates, shareholders and members of the communities we serve know that the work we’re doing internally is “seeping out externally,” as well, Green said. “They want to know, are we walking the walk? Are we socially aware? Do we have equitable practices? All that plays into the management of our reputational risk.”

Jeff Kennedy, who leads the Protect the Bank teams within the Operations, Technology and Data division at Regions Bank, spoke about another important area when it comes to our reputation: cybersecurity.

“Banking is about trust and relationships,” Kennedy said. “If you violate that trust, it’s hard to maintain those relationships. How many customers will walk out the door? It depends on the size and the impact of the [cyber] breach. But I’m confident it will make it a lot harder to attract new customers.”

“I sure don’t want to make the headlines in that way,” Kennedy said, and went on to describe Regions’ strategies for managing cyber threats.

Trust and relationships are at the heart of our community engagement activities, as well. Marta Self, Regions Bank Corporate Philanthropy Manager and Executive Director of the Regions Foundation, joined Nix to talk about the important relationships we have in our communities, and how those partnerships can affect our reputation.

“It’s so important that Regions Bank has a strong presence in the communities we serve,” Self said. “And that’s why our market leaders and Community Affairs team have ‘boots on the ground,’ to take the time to develop deep relationships with civic leaders, community organizations and nonprofits so that we know our community partners. Just like our bankers ‘know our customers’, our community affairs team ‘knows our community partners’.

When asked about his overall impression about this first year of the interview series, Nix remarked about the passion and enthusiasm the leaders have for their teams’ contributions, as well as the thoughtful and strategic approach to managing the company’s reputation.

“Almost every leader I interviewed tied reputation management directly to Regions Bank’s mission and values,” Nix said. “And that was great to hear, that stakeholder trust is core to their business activities.”

Head of Consumer Bank Scott Peters provided the perfect affirmation of Nix’s observation, saying in his interview, “The biggest thing we can do is continue to live through our culture, live up to our values, keep out focus on the customer, our communities and each other, and help our customers succeed financially.”

“If we’re focused on that every single day, that is the greatest thing we can do to have a great reputation and maintain a great reputation in the marketplace,” Peters said.

Watch highlights of the Reputation Matters video series here.