DBRS Assigns Provisional Rating of AAA to Regions Bank’s Guaranteed Notes Issuance

DBRS has today assigned a provisional rating of AAA to the $3.5 billion in four tranches of Senior Notes issued by Regions Bank: the $1.0 billion 2.75% Senior Notes due December 2010; the $1.75 billion 3.25% Senior Notes due December 2011; the $250 million Three-Month LIBOR Senior Notes due June 2010; and the $500 million Three-Month LIBOR Senior Notes due December 2010 (collectively, the Notes). The Notes are being issued pursuant to a Preliminary Pricing Supplement dated December, 2008, to an Offering Circular dated February 14, 2007. The provisional AAA ratings are based on the explicit guarantee provided by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) Temporary Liquidity Guarantee Program (TLGP), which is backed by the full faith and credit of the United States. Under the TLGP, the FDIC guarantees payment of qualifying debt issued by eligible U.S. bank holding companies, such as Regions Financial Corporation.

The AAA rating reflects DBRS’s opinion as to the guarantor’s ability to honor the guarantee as determined by internal assessment of the sovereign. All other debt ratings, including Regions Bank’s AA (low) Deposits & Senior Debt rating, remain at their current levels. All long-term non-guaranteed ratings remain Under Review with Negative Implications, where they were placed on November 13, 2008.

Finalization of the rating is contingent upon receipt of final documents conforming to information already received.

Note:
All figures are in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted.

The applicable methodology is Rating Banks and Bank Holding Companies Operating in the United States, which can be found on our website under Methodologies.

This is a Corporate (Financial Institutions) rating.