NEW YORK (Standard&Poor's) April 2, 2003--Standard&Poor's has reviewed the formal agreement between Fifth Third Bancorp's (AA-/Stable/A-1+) management and its regulators, the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland and Ohio's Division of Financial Institutions, and determined that the agreement has no effect on Fifth Third's ratings. The broad scope of the agreement and the pointedness of the criticism directed at senior management raise some concerns about the integrity of risk management systems. Notwithstanding these concerns, Standard&Poor's takes comfort in the fact that no restatement of financial reports was required after the exhaustive review by Fifth Third's regulators, suggesting that account reconciliation problems reported in third-quarter 2002 were limited. In addition, the company continues to maintain a
