Hello again,

Regions Financial Group (Regions Bank) has been in existence since 1931. The bank has over 1700 branches, and $9.21 billion in market capitalization. The bank had $275 million in profit during the last quarter. However, it is not nearly as large a banking institution as the average for its peer group ($9 billion vis-a-vis $27 billion).

The reason for the overview is to give you an idea of the type of institution with which you are dealing. I can't say that Regions is in the same category as say a Well Fargo or Chase. However, Regions is also not some "fly-by-night" organization that doesn't know how to conduct business. Therefore, I suspect that its online security features are as strong as its competitors.

One thing that you can do is make sure that when you are communicating personal information with the bank's web servers, that the website address bar displays the term "https://" at the beginning of the url (uniform resource locator). This indicates that you have a secure connection. Also, your browser screen should show a lock icon (typically located in the lower left hand corner). This means that you have a 128-bit encrypted connection, which is very difficult for a hacker to decrypt.

That said, there is no substitute for walking into the bank and transferring your info personally and directly to a bank officer. You could already have malware on your computer that can discover and send confidential information before it ever passes over an encrypted connection. I have no idea how strong your antivirus software protection is or how carefully your computer is set up to defeat potential security threats.

The point is that a legal privacy disclosure from a bank is not going to protect you if your system is already compromised. So, if you are worried about it, then go to the bank in person to conduct business, and you won't have to worry.

Though, as a contrast, I have been doing online banking since it was first available, and the only problems I have had are on the occasion that the bank sends out an online check issued by me to pay a bill, and the check gets lost in the mail. But, that may be the US Postal Service or the recipient, not the bank that has created the problem, so in my experience, I have no problems with online banking.

There is one other thing that everyone must do concerning online banking: CHECK YOUR ACCOUNTS DAILY! and use a STRONG PASSWORD XXXXX protect your account. If a hacker gets into your account and starts siphoning off money, you need to know about it and notify the bank immediately. Even one day's delay can cost you.

In sum, the bank's disclosure statement is pretty typical, so the real issues are those that I've described above -- not the bank's legalese.

Hope this helps.

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