On March 18, 2008, Standard&Poor's Ratings Services affirmed its ratings on Fifth Third Bancorp and subsidiaries, including its 'A+/A-1' counterparty credit rating on Fifth Third. At the same time, we revised the outlook to negative from stable. This action reflects our view that credit quality deterioration could be severe for longer than we had anticipated at the start of 2008. Fifth Third's loan portfolio includes commercial real estate (CRE), residential mortgage, and homebuilder loans whose quality continues to deteriorate at an increasing pace, especially in Michigan and Florida. Recent economic developments indicate Fifth Third could hit historical nonperforming highs in concentrated portfolios, challenging core earnings to augment provision expenses as a buffer for capital preservation. Fifth Third has
