DealerTrack has announced that Regions Financial Corp., Birmingham, Ala., the 23rd largest financial services company in the nation, has become an electronic participant in the DealerTrack(SM) online auto finance system.

As a DealerTrack participant, Regions will enable auto dealers in the Southeast to submit consumer lease and automobile loan applications online to multiple financing institutions – and obtain extremely fast responses – via DealerTrack. DealerTrack automates the entire automobile dealer-lender process from financing to daily information sharing.

Additional electronic lender participants in DealerTrack include Arcadia Financial Ltd., Chase Manhattan Bank, AmeriCredit Financial Corp., Subaru Motors Finance and Wells Fargo Auto Finance.

“Beyond the underwriting process, DealerTrack gives auto dealerships access to information that is vital to driving profits in today’s competitive environment, including lender rate and lease programs, deal calculation modules, finance earnings statements and valuable information on customers within each dealer’s portfolio,” said Mark O’Neil, president and chief executive officer, DealerTrack. “As some of the nation’s auto finance leaders like Regions Bank join the DealerTrack platform, they are facilitating the auto industry’s move to a more cost-effective and efficient way of handling the financing process.”

With DealerTrack, dealers can access real-time application and contract status information from any of the online lenders on the DealerTrack platform, regardless of whether the application was sent electronically or by fax. The result, according to O'Neil, is a more efficient workflow process, lower costs, improved accuracy and reduced processing time for dealers and lenders and an ultimately easier, faster experience for the consumer.

Regions Dealer Credit Services offers wholesale, leasing, retail and secondary products to dealers in nine Southeastern states -- Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas.

“We think DealerTrack represents the leading edge of where the industry is going, and provides both the dealer and the lender with value,” said Ron Luth, senior vice president, Regions Financial Corp.

For more information about DealerTrack, auto dealers may contact Rick Pinto, national sales manager, at (631) 486-1655, or email rick.pinto@dealertrack.com. Lenders may contact Rich McLeer, national lender relationship manager, at (631) 486-1649, or email richard.mcleer@dealertrack.com.

About Regions Bank

Regions Financial Corp. (www.regionsbank.com), with $47 billion in assets, ranks among the 25 largest financial services companies in the nation.

Serving customers throughout the South, it provides traditional commercial and retail banking services and other financial services in the fields of investment banking, asset management, trust, mutual funds, securities brokerage, insurance, leasing and mortgage banking.

Its banking affiliate, Regions Bank, offers banking services from more than 680 banking offices in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas.

Regions provides investment and brokerage services from more than 54 offices of investment firm Morgan Keegan & Company, Inc. Regions ranks on both the Forbes 500 and the Fortune 500 listing of America's largest companies; its common stock is traded in the Nasdaq National Market System under the symbol RGBK.

About DealerTrack

DealerTrack (www.dealertrack.com) is a leading independent Web-based auto finance enabler for automotive dealers.

The company provides an impartial end-to-end loan and lease transaction channel that improves efficiencies and profitability for lender and dealer users by automating credit processes, speeding lending communications and improving transaction efficiency through the use of the Internet.

More than 8,000 dealerships nationwide, both individual stores and large dealer groups, currently use the DealerTrack system. Formed by a lender consortium, DealerTrack is owned by J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., AmeriCredit Corp. and Wells Fargo & Co.