Fifth Third Bancorp Announces Plans to Participate in U.S. Treasury Capital Purchase Program

CINCINNATI, Oct. 26 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) today announced its plans to participate in the U.S. Treasury Capital Purchase Program ("CPP" or "Program").

The Treasury has announced plans to purchase up to $250 billion of senior preferred shares on a voluntary basis in U.S. financial institutions, as part of its efforts to provide a firmer capital foundation for financial firms and to increase credit availability to consumers and businesses. Nine institutions participated initially in this plan and several others have subsequently announced their participation. We expect many additional institutions to also avail themselves of this program.

Last week, we announced that we were considering participation in this program. Subsequently, Fifth Third has had the requisite discussions with its primary regulator and submitted an application for participation, which was filed Thursday. Our application was for an amount equal to 3 percent of risk-weighted assets, or approximately $3.4 billion. We anticipate that our application will be approved shortly by Treasury. Upon approval, we will provide further information regarding the benefits and the impact on Fifth Third of its participation in the program.

Corporate Profile

Fifth Third Bancorp is a diversified financial services company headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. As of September 30, 2008, the Company has $116 billion in assets, operates 18 affiliates with 1,298 full-service Banking Centers, including 93 Bank Mart(R) locations open seven days a week inside select grocery stores and 2,329 ATMs in Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Florida, Tennessee, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Missouri, Georgia and North Carolina. Fifth Third operates five main businesses: Commercial Banking, Branch Banking, Consumer Lending, Investment Advisors and Fifth Third Processing Solutions. Fifth Third is among the largest money managers in the Midwest and, as of September 30, 2008, has $196 billion in assets under care, of which it managed $30 billion for individuals, corporations and not-for- profit organizations. Investor information and press releases can be viewed at www.53.com. Fifth Third’s common stock is traded on the NASDAQ(R) National Global Select Market under the symbol "FITB."