Senior Executive Vice President, Head of Corporate Banking Group, Regions Financial Corporation
The Interview: Regions Bank Area President Brian Willman
The Interview: Regions Bank Area President Brian Willman.
About Brian Willman
In a 2013 interview, Brian Willman, then Regions Bank area president for south Alabama and the Florida Panhandle, discussed the 2008 financial crisis and the bank's role. He stated that the banking industry had engaged in "too risky" lending, making loans to borrowers with inappropriate products, and that the focus on rapid loan growth had "come back to haunt" the industry. Willman emphasized that Regions, as a southeastern regional bank, focused on loans, deposits, and wealth management, and that products offered to customers should be something they understand and need, not just beneficial for the bank. He also expressed optimism about the economic impact of Airbus assembling commercial airliners in Mobile, describing it as a "game changer" that could attract an aerospace hub. In a separate 2011 training methodology description, Willman discussed his approach to leadership development, stating that it is a "never-ending process" and that effective leaders often excel at one or two distinctive behaviors. He argued that companies do not have values, but individuals do, and that a leader's beliefs influence whether others choose to follow them. Willman also noted that executives receive more feedback as their careers progress, but that it becomes less honest, and he emphasized the importance of providing good quality feedback to help managers become better leaders.
Transcript (13 segments)
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Host0:00
television to have airbus here in mobile and thinking about that kind of project investment for now but really 5 10 15 20 years attracting kind of an aerospace hub i think it's huge regions is the largest banking institution in our area its size alone led some to believe it was part of wall street dealings that brought on financial crisis in 2008 and the following recession region's area president brian willman recently sat down with our eric reynolds to talk about what happened during that trying time what the future holds for our local economy and what led him to follow his father into banking here's the interview
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Brian Willman0:49
my father was in banking for 30 years in charlotte and i never thought that i would be a banker after seeing his career i thought to myself that was the last thing i wanted to do but after i got to school and realized that i had a desire to work with numbers and also people especially then it kind of gravitated towards banking
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Host1:09
nearly 20 years later brian willman like his father has made banking his career today he's the area president over regions bank in south alabama and the florida panhandle willman also credits one of his economy and finance teachers for helping him realize that banking would allow him to use two of his talents
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Brian Willman1:31
banking is a people business we serve customers you know it's not just an office job you're obviously out and in the communities for me banking was kind of a natural fit of numbers meeting people and using my social skills to me that kind of married the two
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Host1:46
corporate banking and finance new york and wall street describe his early years in banking willman says it was great and rewarding including lots of hours and cross-country travel post 9 11 willman says he realized air travel was not all it was cracked up to be with two children he and his wife took another look at the requirements of his job
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Brian Willman2:13
i started reevaluating you know work life balance and i thought you know banking is great in wall street in new york but i also want to be able to coach my son's baseball team and you know be home for dinner i took a little bit of a turn to more of the community banking business banking type in smaller community markets it was still very rewarding it's still very challenging you can still cultivate a nice career but you know also enjoy your life while you're doing it
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Host2:46
big banks and the financial industry involved in proprietary trading overseas trading operations and secondary mortgages were suspects in triggering the 2008 recession
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Brian Willman2:59
there's probably some truth to that lending was really i'd say too risky we were making loans as an industry to borrowers that we knew probably long term it was not the appropriate product for them we kind of lost sight of that eight ten years ago it was all about how fast can we you know grow loans and mortgages that was something that was a real eye-opener for me i had never experienced a boom like that and certainly hadn't experienced a bust like we have the last four or five years i think that has come back to haunt you know the industry
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Host3:38
willman says regions got lumped in with the wall street banks but he says regions as a southeastern regional bank is focused on loans deposits and wealth management
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Brian Willman3:53
what we advise products that we offer to our customers that they understand it and that it's something that they need not something that is good for just the bank if it's not a two-way street then i think you're going down a very slippery slope and i think you know that's probably what got us into some of that mess we are looking to reinvest in our communities we have capital to lend we want to grow the bank we want to serve their financial needs the heart program the home affordable refinance program the government instituted we've helped almost 6 000 homeowners refinance close to a billion dollars worth of their mortgages
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Host4:35
the landing of airbus could help fuel a faster recovery of the local economy willman has seen it happen before
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Brian Willman4:43
we're positioned very well there's a lot of areas that would love to have that type of investment that's going to be happening over the next three to four years i think it's a game changer what boeing's dreamliner facility outside of charleston did for that market and bringing investment and supplier base to have airbus here in mobile and thinking about that kind of project investment for now but really 5 10 15 20 years attracting kind of an aerospace hub i think it's huge i think a lot of people obviously are excited about i know we are i'm very bullish on this area there's a lot of competition out there and we realized that in most banking what we offer is a commodity it's a service i challenge our employees know the customers first we have to be out there taking care of our clients it comes down to relationship and it comes down to this is going to help you either run your life or your business better
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Eric Reynolds5:43
in mobile eric reynolds fox 10 news willman says airbus's plan to assemble commercial airliners in mobile is a better niche for the local economy long term since it will not be tied to defense budgets and spending with 96 branch offices under willman's responsibility regions is the number one market share bank in our area he says the bank's nearly 1 000 employees are ready to help future airbus workers and current gulf coast