Regions Financial’s acquisition of Morgan Keegan, however, has been an exception to a seemingly firmly ensconced trend. Unlike some of the bank acquisitions we highlighted, Regions’ shareholders have actually received some value out of the Morgan Keegan deal.

In the year 2000, Regions has less than $100 million in combined revenue from investment banking, brokerage, and trust. Regions paid $774 million in stock for Morgan Keegan in early 2001; at the time, the Memphis-based investment banking and brokerage firm had roughly $500 million in revenues.

In 2004 Regions reported total investment banking, brokerage, and trust revenue of $637 million. This combined level of revenue is actually greater than the run rate of what the pro forma entity would have reported in 2000, the pinnacle of the equity markets.

Regions has succeeded with its acquisition of Morgan Keegan not only because it has left the acquired firm alone (or as alone as you leave any company you’ve acquired). The acquisition has been successful because Regions, in a move of humility not typically associated with bigger banks, folded its existing investment-related businesses into Morgan Keegan. It’s truly amazing, when you stop to think about it.

The deal’s payoff for Regions’ shareholders, given the manner in which it was handled, shouldn’t be surprising at all.