Fifth Third Bank (5/3 Bank) is a U.S. regional banking corporation, headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio and is the principal subsidiary of holding company Fifth Third Bancorp.

Fifth Third Bancorp is a diversified financial services company with $111 billion in assets, operates 15 affiliates with 1,232 full-service Banking Centers, including 106 Bank Mart locations open seven days a week inside select grocery stores and 2,213 ATMs in Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Florida, Tennessee, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Georgia, North Carolina and Missouri.

Fifth Third is among the largest money managers in the Midwest and, as of December 31, 2007, has $223 billion in assets under care, of which it managed $33 billion for individuals, corporations and not-for-profit organizations.[2]

The company engages in five main lending and banking practices: branch banking, consumer lending, commercial banking, investment advising, and Fifth Third Processing Solutions. Fifth Third Processing Solutions became Vantiv, adopting new branding on June 15, 2011. They also operate a Title insurance division.

Fifth Third did not cut jobs as rapidly as many competitors did during the financial crisis.[3]

Fifth Third Bank's history can be traced back to June 17, 1858, when the Bank of the Ohio Valley opened in Cincinnati. The Third National Bank organized five years later, on June 23, 1863, and on April 29, 1871, the younger bank acquired the older one, beginning a 130-year history of banking acquisitions and mergers, with numerous smaller banks being absorbed and renamed.[4]

Fifth Third's unusual name is the result of the June 1, 1908 merger of Third National Bank and Fifth National Bank, to become the Fifth Third National Bank of Cincinnati.[4] While Third National was the senior partner, the merger took place during a period when prohibitionist ideas were gaining popularity, and it is legend that "Fifth Third" was better than "Third Fifth", which could have been construed as a reference to three "fifths" of alcohol.[5] The name went through several changes over the years until March 24, 1969, when it was changed to Fifth Third Bank.[4]

In January 2007, the New York Times published an article "Data Breach Could Affect Millions". "Yesterday, Fifth Third Bank of Cincinnati was identified as the sponsoring bank that handles TJX’s accounts, which makes it responsible for ensuring that the retailer met the industry’s data security standards."[6] It was later found that potentially 45.7 million credit card numbers were compromised. This, from the Associated Press, "TJX says its computer systems were first breached in July 2005 by a hacker or hackers who accessed information from customer transactions dating to January 2003. TJX says it didn’t find out about the breach until about three months ago.... The filing also says, “We believe that the intruder had access to the decryption tool for the encryption software utilized by TJX.”[7]

In 1999, the company completed the acquisition of Enterprise Federal Bancorp Inc., one of the biggest thrifts in the Cincinnati area. The purchase, estimated at $96.4 million, provided Fifth Third with 11 additional branches in greater Cincinnati. Fifth Third also acquired Ashland Bankshares, Inc. and subsidiary Bank of Ashland, both based in Kentucky. The $80 million purchase gave Fifth Third four more branches, as well as $160 million in assets. Fifth Third also began to implement plans to expand further into Florida and acquired South Florida Bank Holding Corp. in June, adding another four branches to its Florida roster. Additional expansion into the Cleveland, Ohio, area came with the acquisition of Emerald Financial Corp. for $204 million. Fifth Third also acquired Cleveland-based Emerald Financial Corp. and its subsidiary, Strongsville Savings Bank.

In May 2007, Fifth Third announced the acquisition of R-G Crown Bank of Casselberry, Florida. This purchase added thirty branches in Florida and three in Georgia to Fifth Third's branch network. The transaction closed in the fourth quarter of 2007.[8]

On August 16, 2007, Fifth Third announced the purchase of First Charter Bank of Charlotte, North Carolina.[9] As part of this transaction, Fifth Third entered the North Carolina market with 57 branches, and the Atlanta market with two branches.[10] On April 16, 2008, the Federal Reserve Bank approved the transaction for Fifth Third Bank to acquire First Charter.[11] The acquisition was completed in June 2008.[12]

On September 25, 2007, Fifth Third announced the acquisition of nine branch locations in Atlanta, GA, from First Horizon National Corporation.[13] On February 7, 2008, First Horizon canceled the sale of the branches to Fifth Third, as the sale price suddenly became unacceptable to FHN. Then, on March 25, 2008, news outlets reported that the sale was reinstated.[14]

On October 31, 2008, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) announced that all deposits of Florida-based Freedom Bank (which was shut down the same day) would be assumed by Fifth Third Bank.[15]

On March 30, 2009 Fifth Third announced a joint venture with Advent International, selling off 51% of their credit card processing gem Fifth Third Processing Solutions. The new company Fifth Third Processing Solutions LLC will go into effect June 2009. Advent International paid a reported $561 million in cash although, the deal is set to the amount of $1.25 billion altogether.

Fifth Third was rumored to be one of the front runners alongside Huntington Bancshares to buy the National City branches in the Pittsburgh and Erie regions that PNC Financial Services was required to sell off by the United States Department of Justice as part of PNC's deal to acquire National City in 2008.[16] Had Fifth Third bought the branches, it would've greatly expanded the bank's presence in the Pittsburgh region (where Fifth Third has opened a small handful of branches over the past few years as opposed to acquiring a rival bank) as well as enter the Erie market. Ultimately, PNC sold the bulk of the overlapping branches to First Niagara Bank.

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