BancorpSouth Elects Not to Participate in U.S. Treasury's Capital Purchase Program
November 14 2008 - 5:58PM
PR Newswire (US)
TUPELO, Miss., Nov. 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- BancorpSouth, Inc.
(NYSE: BXS), announced today it will not apply for funds available
through the U.S. Department of Treasury's Capital Purchase Program,
part of the federal government's Troubled Assets Relief Program
(TARP). "After careful deliberation, BancorpSouth's board of
directors and senior management have decided that we will not
participate in the government's funding program. At the same time,
we support the intent of the program, understand its potential
benefits and are respectful of those institutions that are
participating," said Aubrey Patterson, Chairman and CEO of
BancorpSouth. "BancorpSouth is a well-capitalized, strong
performing institution with high quality assets in its loan
portfolio. We are confident that our company is well positioned to
work through the challenges of this difficult economic period. In
our opinion, it is clearly in the best interests of our
shareholders to continue with our strong, conservative capital
management plan, without resorting to the inclusion of government
capital," Patterson continued. BancorpSouth has a strong balance
sheet highlighted by total risk-based capital of 11.82% at
September 30, 2008, far above minimum regulatory standards. The
company has a long and consistent history of focusing on asset
quality, strong returns to shareholders and high capital ratios.
"We are strategically well positioned in our eight-state
marketplace," stated Patterson. "The Mid-South is an emerging
economic success story with domestic and global corporations making
significant new capital investments in our region. "Our company has
avoided many of the troubling real estate issues which have
impacted other geographic areas. We are cautiously optimistic that
the markets we serve will continue to have a relatively healthy
environment in which to operate. "We remain confident that our
business model will continue to generate capital sufficient to grow
our portfolios for the expansion of our footprint and to provide
for desirable and appropriate acquisitions as we have done in the
past." BancorpSouth, Inc., is a financial holding company
headquartered in Tupelo, Mississippi, with approximately $13.3
billion in assets. BancorpSouth Bank, a wholly-owned subsidiary of
BancorpSouth, Inc., operates approximately 300 commercial banking,
mortgage, insurance, trust and broker/dealer locations in Alabama,
Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Tennessee and
Texas. BancorpSouth Bank also operates an insurance location in
Illinois. Forward-Looking Statements Certain statements contained
in this news release may not be based on historical facts and are
"forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of
the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. These forward-looking
statements may be identified by their reference to a future period
or periods or by the use of forward-looking terminology such as
"anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "expect," "may," "might,"
"will," "would," "could" or "intend." These forward-looking
statements include, without limitation, statements relating our
response to and the impact of recent legislation and regulation
affecting financial institutions, our preparation and positioning
to manage the company during a period of economic uncertainty and
our capital management plan to do so, the health of the company's
future and of the markets we serve, our ability to expand market
share, our prospects for growing our businesses, our ability to
expand into new markets and our performance during a period of
economic uncertainty. We caution you not to place undue reliance on
the forward-looking statements contained in this news release in
that actual results could differ materially from those indicated in
such forward-looking statements because of a variety of factors.
These factors may include, but are not limited to, deterioration in
economic conditions and chances in government fiscal and monetary
policies in response thereto, fluctuations in prevailing interest
rates and the ability of BancorpSouth to manage its assets and
liabilities to limit exposure to changing interest rates, the
ability of BancorpSouth to increase noninterest revenue and expand
noninterest revenue business, the ability of BancorpSouth to
maintain credit quality, changes in laws and regulations or the
interpretation thereof affecting financial service companies in
general, the ability of BancorpSouth to compete with other
financial services companies, the ability of BancorpSouth to
provide and market competitive services and products, changes in
BancorpSouth's operating or expansion strategy, BancorpSouth's
business model and capital management plan, geographic
concentration of BancorpSouth's assets, the ability of BancorpSouth
to manage its growth and effectively serve an expanding customer
and market base, the ability of BancorpSouth to achieve profitable
growth and increase shareholder value, the ability of BancorpSouth
to attract, train and retain qualified personnel, the ability of
BancorpSouth to repurchase its common stock on favorable terms, the
ability of BancorpSouth to identify, close and effectively
integrate potential acquisitions, the ability of BancorpSouth to
expand geographically and enter growing markets, changes in
consumer preferences, other factors generally understood to affect
the financial results of financial services companies, and other
factors described from time to time in BancorpSouth's filings with
the Securities and Exchange Commission. We undertake no obligation
to update these forward-looking statements to reflect events or
circumstances that occur after the date on which such statements
were made. DATASOURCE: BancorpSouth, Inc. CONTACT: Financial: Nash
Allen, +1-662-680-2330, Media: Randy Burchfield, +1-662-620-4302,
both of BancorpSouth, Inc. Web site: http://www.bancorpsouth.com/
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