Fifth Third Redeems $3.4 Billion U.S. Treasury Investment

CINCINNATI, Feb. 2, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Fifth Third Bancorp ("Fifth Third;"Nasdaq: FITB) today announced that it has completed the repurchase of all 136,320 shares of its Series F Preferred Stock, originally issued in December 2008 under the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Troubled Asset Relief Program's (TARP) Capital Purchase Program (CPP). Fifth Third funded the repurchase of the $3.4 billion of preferred stock with proceeds from its recent equity and debt offerings, as well as from available resources.

"Redemption of TARP represents another important milestone for Fifth Third," said Kevin Kabat, President and CEO of Fifth Third Bancorp. "The TARP and CPP programs played important stabilizing roles for the economy and financial system when they were implemented. We appreciate that U.S. taxpayers made an investment in our company at that time, and we are pleased to be able to return that investment to them after the payment of more than $350 million in dividends. Having completed this repayment, our capital position and balance sheet will be among the strongest of peer institutions, and we expect that position to continue to strengthen through profitable results."

The U.S. Treasury continues to hold warrants to purchase 43,617,747 shares of Fifth Third's common stock at an initial exercise price of $11.72 per share. Fifth Third currently intends to evaluate the potential purchase of these warrants from the U.S. Treasury or otherwise.

Fifth Third Bancorp is a diversified financial services company headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. As of December 31, 2010, the Company had $111 billion in assets and operated 15 affiliates with 1,312 full-service Banking Centers, including 103 Bank Mart® locations open seven days a week inside select grocery stores and 2,445 ATMs in Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Florida, Tennessee, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Missouri, Georgia and North Carolina. Fifth Third operates four main businesses: Commercial Banking, Branch Banking, Consumer Lending, and Investment Advisors. Fifth Third also has a 49% interest in Fifth Third Processing Solutions, LLC. Fifth Third is among the largest money managers in the Midwest and, as of December 31, 2010, had $266 billion in assets under care, of which it managed $25 billion for individuals, corporations and not-for-profit organizations. Fifth Third's common stock is traded on the NASDAQ® National Global Select Market under the symbol "FITB."

 Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains statements that we believe are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Rule 175 promulgated thereunder, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and Rule 3b-6 promulgated thereunder. These statements relate to our financial condition, results of operations, plans, objectives, future performance or business. They usually can be identified by the use of forward-looking language such as "will likely result," "may," "are expected to," "is anticipated," "estimate," "forecast," "projected," "intends to," or may include other similar words or phrases such as "believes," "plans," "trend," "objective," "continue," "remain," or similar expressions, or future or conditional verbs such as "will," "would," "should," "could," "might," "can," or similar verbs. You should not place undue reliance on these statements, as they are subject to risks and uncertainties, including but not limited to the risk factors set forth in our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K. When considering these forward-looking statements, you should keep in mind these risks and uncertainties, as well as any cautionary statements we may make. Moreover, you should treat these statements as speaking only as of the date they are made and based only on information then actually known to us.

There are a number of important factors that could cause future results to differ materially from historical performance and these forward-looking statements. Factors that might cause such a difference include, but are not limited to: (1) general economic conditions and weakening in the economy, specifically the real estate market, either nationally or in the states in which Fifth Third, one or more acquired entities and/or the combined company do business, are less favorable than expected; (2) deteriorating credit quality; (3) political developments, wars or other hostilities may disrupt or increase volatility in securities markets or other economic conditions; (4) changes in the interest rate environment reduce interest margins; (5) prepayment speeds, loan origination and sale volumes, charge-offs and loan loss provisions; (6) Fifth Third's ability to maintain required capital levels and adequate sources of funding and liquidity; (7) maintaining capital requirements may limit Fifth Third's operations and potential growth; (8) changes and trends in capital markets; (9) problems encountered by larger or similar financial institutions may adversely affect the banking industry and/or Fifth Third (10) competitive pressures among depository institutions increase significantly; (11) effects of critical accounting policies and judgments; (12) changes in accounting policies or procedures as may be required by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) or other regulatory agencies; (13) legislative or regulatory changes or actions, or significant litigation, adversely affect Fifth Third, one or more acquired entities and/or the combined company or the businesses in which Fifth Third, one or more acquired entities and/or the combined company are engaged, including the recently enacted Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act; (14) ability to maintain favorable ratings from rating agencies; (15) fluctuation of Fifth Third's stock price; (16) ability to attract and retain key personnel; (17) ability to receive dividends from its subsidiaries; (18) potentially dilutive effect of future acquisitions on current shareholders' ownership of Fifth Third; (19) effects of accounting or financial results of one or more acquired entities; (20) difficulties in separating Fifth Third Processing Solutions from Fifth Third; (21) loss of income from any sale or potential sale of businesses that could have an adverse effect on Fifth Third's earnings and future growth;(22) ability to secure confidential information through the use of computer systems and telecommunications networks; and (23) the impact of reputational risk created by these developments on such matters as business generation and retention, funding and liquidity.

You should refer to our periodic and current reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or "SEC," for further information on other factors, which could cause actual results to be significantly different from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements.

SOURCE Fifth Third Bancorp