Following a review of Fifth Third Bancorp (Fifth Third) under Standard&Poor's revised bank criteria (published Nov. 9, 2011), we have affirmed Fifth Third's long-term issuer credit rating at 'BBB' and its short-term credit rating at 'A-2'. At the same time, we affirmed our rating on its operating subsidiary, Fifth Third Bank., at 'BBB+' and affirmed its 'A-2' short-term rating. The long-term rating outlook on both entities is positive. The anchor rating for Fifth Third is 'bbb+'. Our ratings on Fifth Third reflect our assessment of its business position as strong, capital and earnings as adequate, risk position as moderate, funding as average, and liquidity as adequate. We expect Fifth Third's credit quality to continue to demonstrate stabilization, improving
