NEW YORK (Standard&Poor's) Jan. 23, 2012--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that its ratings on Fifth Third Bancorp (BBB/Positive/A-2) were not affected by the company's mediocre fourth-quarter earnings. Fifth Third's lower net income of $314 million, compared with the $381 million of net income in the third quarter, fell broadly within our expectations and mainly reflected a $54 million charge to a swap liability related to the firm's sale of Visa shares, lower mortgage banking revenue, and higher compensation expenses. The firm's earnings for the fourth and third quarters included reserve releases of $184 million and $175 million, respectively, since provisions decreased $32 million from the third quarter. The reserve releases for full-year 2011 totaled $749 million,
