CINCINNATI, March 28 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The shareholders of Fifth Third Bancorp today re-elected the following Directors:
- John F. Barrett, President, CEO, Director and Chairman of the Board,
Western and Southern Life Insurance, Co.
- George A. Schaefer, Jr., President and CEO, Fifth Third Bancorp and
Fifth Third Bank.
- John J. Schiff, Jr., Chairman, President, CEO and Director, Cincinnati
Financial Corporation and Cincinnati Insurance Company.
- Dudley S. Taft, President and Director, Taft Broadcasting Company.
Each of the four Class II Directors up for election received more than 86 percent of the shares voted at the meeting.
Fifth Third shareholders also approved the proposals to provide for the annual election of Directors, the removal of the super-majority voting provision contained in Fifth Third's Code of Regulations, the adoption of the Amended and Restated Fifth Third Bancorp 1993 Stock Purchase Plan and the appointment of Deloitte & Touche LLP as independent auditors for the 2006 calendar year.
Following the meeting, Fifth Third Bancorp declared the first quarter 2006 cash dividend on its common shares of $.38, an increase of nine percent over the $.35 per share declared in the first quarter of 2005. The cash dividend is payable on April 18, 2006 to shareholders of record as of March 31, 2006. The Bancorp will report first quarter financial results on Tuesday, April 18, 2006.
Fifth Third Bancorp is a diversified financial services company headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. The Company has $105.2 billion in assets, operates 19 affiliates with 1,132 full-service Banking Centers, including 120 Bank Mart(R) locations open seven days a week inside select grocery stores and 2,020 Jeanie(R) ATMs in Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Florida, Tennessee, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Missouri. The financial strength of Fifth Third's Ohio and Michigan banks continues to be recognized by rating agencies with deposit ratings of AA- and Aa1 from Standard & Poor's and Moody's, respectively. Additionally, Fifth Third Bancorp continues to maintain among the highest short-term ratings available at A-1+ and Prime-1 and is recognized by Moody's with a senior debt rating of Aa2. Fifth Third operates four main businesses: Retail, Commercial, Investment Advisors and Fifth Third Processing Solutions. Fifth Third is among the largest money managers in the Midwest and, as of December 31, 2005, has $196 billion in assets under care, of which it manages $33 billion for individuals, corporations and not-for- profit organizations. Investor information and press releases can be viewed at http://www.53.com/. Fifth Third's common stock is traded through the NASDAQ(R) National Market System under the symbol "FITB." Member FDIC.
