NEW YORK (Standard&Poor's) Feb. 8, 2005--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that it affirmed its ratings on the bank subsidiaries of Fifth Third Bancorp., including the 'AA-' long-term counterparty ratings. At the same time, it lowered its ratings on Fifth Third Bancorp., the holding company, including lowering the counterparty ratings to 'A+/A-1' from 'AA-/A-1+', and removed them from CreditWatch where they were placed Dec. 3, 2004. The outlook is stable. This action normalizes the ratings on Fifth Third to be consistent with Standard&Poor's criteria practice of notching the holding company off of the bank ratings. "The holding company ratings were lowered as Fifth Third has increased holding-company and consolidated leverage," said Standard&Poor's credit
