Financial and Professional Services

Missouri is home to many highly competitive banks, insurance companies and tax preparation companies including Commerce Bank, State Farm and H&R Block. Missouri has also recently experienced high levels of growth in investment and financing. According to a recent study by the Boyd Company, Inc.- an independent site selection consulting service- Missouri's two largest metropolitan areas, St. Louis and Kansas city, both ranked among the 25 markets in the nation for lowest costs of operating headquarters.

• Missouri is home to the regional headquarters of several large banks, including Bank of America, Regions Bank, and U.S. Bancorp, as well as the headquarters for Commerce Bank, Central Bank and UMB Bank-- thee of the top banks in the nation according to Forbes.
• Two Missouri-based reinsurance companies, Reinsurance Group of America and Generali USA, comprise nearly 42 percent of the national market share for life reinsurance. Another of the world’s leading reinsurers, Swiss Re, is also domiciled in Missouri.
• MasterCard Worldwide’s global technology operations center in O’Fallon, MO processes every transaction in the world that involves Mastercard.
• The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City processes more than 1 million checks a day.
• The Kansas City Board of Trade is the second oldest commodities exchange in the nation.
• Missouri is the only state with two Federal Reserve Banks.

Missouri's workforce has the education that companies in the Financial industry require:

• Missouri ranks 10th for financial sector employment growth over the past decade (American City Business Journals.}
• 390,500, or nearly 15%, of the 2.67 million workers in Missouri are employed in core occupations relevant to the Financial and Professional Services Industry.
• Over 30 Missouri Colleges and Universities offer Associate or higher degrees in Finance or Accounting.
• 86.9% of Missouri's population over 25 (over 3 million people) has attained a high school diploma or higher, exceeding the national average of 85.6%.
• In 2010, 79,526 post-secondary degrees/certificates were awarded in the state. Of those, 39,570 were bachelor's degrees, 19,403 were master's degrees and 4,651 were doctorates. The numbers of degrees awarded in all categories exceeded the national average (National Center for Education Statistics).
• Washington University's undergraduate business degree program is ranked 14th by U.S. News and World Report.
• Over 1 million Missourians hold a Bachelor’s degree or higher (U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey).

Central Bancompany Inc.: (HQ Jefferson City) Central Bancompany, Inc. operates as the holding company for Central Trust Bank, which provides personal and business financial services in Missouri.

Commerce Bancshares: (HQ Kansas City) Commerce Bancshares is a $17.5 billion regional bank holding company currently operating in approximately 350 locations in Missouri, Kansas, Illinois, Oklahoma and Colorado.

DST Systems, Inc.: (HQ Kansas City) Founded in 1969 as a division of Kansas City Southern Industries, DST was  established to develop an automated recordkeeping system for the mutual fund industry. DST is the largest  provider of third-party shareholder recordkeeping services in the United States today.

Edward Jones:  (HQ St. Louis) Edward Jones is an investment brokerage network serving some 7 million clients, with offices in all 50 states, plus Canada and the U.K.

H&R Block: (HQ Kansas City) H&R Block is the world's largest tax preparation business, employing 100,000 tax professionals and having served more than 400 million clients.

North American Savings Bank: (HQ Grandview) North American Savings Bank (NASB) is a national mortgage lender providing home loans in all 50 states, including the District of Columbia.

Reinsurance Group of America (HQ St. Louis) RGA is a leader in the global life reinsurance industry with approximately $2.8 trillion of life reinsurance in force and assets of $38.3 billion. RGA has operations in 25 countries.

Scottrade: (HQ St. Louis) Scotttrade is one of the largest online brokerages in the US. The company also maintains a network of brokers at more than 425 branch offices in nearly all 50 states, with concentrations on both coasts.

Shelter Insurance (HQ Columbia)  Founded in 1946, Shelter employs 2,000 people and serves customers in 14 states. It also operates Shelter Reinsurance Company, which provides reinsurance coverage for property around the world.

UMB Financial Corp.: (HQ Kansas City) UMB provides banking and related financial services in seven states - Missouri, Illinois, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Arizona.

Veterans United: (HQ Columbia) Veterans United is the nation's leading dedicated provider of VA home loans. The company was co-founded by two University of Missouri alumni.