Regions to Unveil New Savings Account, Remote Deposit for Prepaid

SAN FRANCISCO — Regions Financial (RF) is about to introduce a new savings account for low-income and other underserved customers, as the bank expands its efforts to court those customers with alternative financial services.

The Birmingham bank also plans to offer remote-deposit capture for its prepaid card customers by early next year, a senior executive said Thursday. The system allows customers to deposit checks by snapping photos of them and submitting them online instead of bringing the check to a bank branch.

Regions will unveil a savings "component" for its "Now Banking" customers within the next 30 days, John Owen, Regions' head of business lines, said during a speech Thursday.

The new savings account "will have some matching component," he added.

Owen was addressing bankers, regulators, and non-bank financial executives at the Underbanked Financial Services Forum, an annual conference sponsored by the Center for Financial Services Innovation and American Banker. The three-day event in San Francisco focuses on financial services for the young, poor, immigrants or other people who do not have or do not regularly use bank accounts.

Regions has been eagerly courting those consumers. In March it said it had finished rolling out its "Now Banking" suite of alternative financial services, including check cashing, money transfer, prepaid cards and expedited bill pay services.