Regions Bank... Risk adverse?

I have been a Regions bank customer for nearly a decade now. I first opened my own account to yield some returns off of my saving account. Little did I know how profitless I would be with only $200 in my account. However recently Regions bank invested some of their own money into FirstBank Financial of McDonough, Ga. Regions made this purchase last Friday after FirstBank failed.

There is some discussion by market analyst whether or not it is a good idea to let banks like Regions acquire failing banks. This is the second bank that Regions has bought, in the last year. According to consensus estimates, analysts predicted that Regions "is expected to lose $705.8 million this year" (LaMonica).

This does leave me quite troubled and perplexed. The first thing i ask myself is if this may be some sort of last ditch effort to try to receive a big payoff on a risky investment. The FDIC cliams that they would not allow risky banks to purchase failing banks, but how long will banks like regions continue to be able to buy failing banks? Currently regions shares increased by 12%, I however feel that this will be a short lived success. I think if banks are predicted to lose as much money as analyst say, the FDIC should step in before banks are able to make such risky investments, like buying a failed bank.

(LaMonica)
http://money.cnn.com/2009/02/09/markets/thebuzz/index.htm?postversion=2009020913