ITEM 1. BUSINESS
General Information
Fifth Third Bancorp (the “Bancorp”), an Ohio corporation organized in 1975, is a bank holding company (“BHC”) as defined by the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956, as amended (the “BHCA”), and is registered as such with the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (the “FRB”).
The Bancorp is a diversified financial services company headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. As of December 31, 2016, the Company had $142 billion in assets and operates 1,191 full-service Banking Centers, and 2,495 ATMs in Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Florida, Tennessee, West Virginia, Georgia and North Carolina. Fifth Third operates four main businesses: Commercial Banking, Branch Banking, Consumer Lending, and Wealth & Asset Management. Fifth Third also has a 17.9% interest in Vantiv Holding, LLC. The carrying value of the Bancorp’s investment in Vantiv Holding, LLC was $414 million as of December 31, 2016. Fifth Third is among the largest money managers in the Midwest and, as of December 31, 2016, had $315 billion in assets under care, of which it managed $31 billion for individuals, corporations and not-for-profit organizations. Investor information and press releases can be viewed at www.53.com. Fifth Third’s common stock is traded on the NASDAQ® Global Select Market under the symbol “FITB.”
The Bancorp’s subsidiaries provide a wide range of financial products and services to the retail, commercial, financial, governmental, educational, energy and medical sectors, including a wide variety of checking, savings and money market accounts, treasury management products, wealth management solutions, payments and commerce solutions, insurance services and credit products such as credit cards, installment loans, mortgage loans and leases. These products and services are delivered through a variety of channels and methods including the Company’s Banking Centers, other offices, telephone sales, the internet and mobile applications. Fifth Third Bank has deposit insurance provided by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (the “FDIC”) through the Deposit Insurance Fund. Refer to Exhibit 21 filed as an attachment to this Annual Report on Form 10-K for a list of subsidiaries of the Bancorp as of December 31, 2016.
The Bancorp derives the majority of its revenues from the U.S. Revenue from foreign countries and external customers domiciled in foreign countries is immaterial to the Bancorp’s Consolidated Financial Statements.
Additional information regarding the Bancorp’s businesses is included in Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.
Availability of Financial Information
The Bancorp files reports with the SEC. Those reports include the annual report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K and proxy statements, as well as any amendments to those reports. The public may read and copy any materials the Bancorp files with the SEC at the SEC’s Public Reference Room at 100 F Street, NE, Washington, DC 20549. The public may obtain information on the operation of the Public Reference Room by calling the SEC at 1-800-SEC-0330. The SEC maintains an internet site that contains reports, proxy and information statements and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the SEC at www.sec.gov. The Bancorp’s annual report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form
10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K, proxy statements, and amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Exchange Act are accessible at no cost on the Bancorp’s web site at https://www.53.com on a same day basis after they are electronically filed with or furnished to the SEC.
Competition
The Bancorp competes for deposits, loans and other banking services in its principal geographic markets as well as in selected national markets as opportunities arise. In addition to traditional financial institutions, the Bancorp competes with securities dealers, brokers, mortgage bankers, investment advisors and insurance companies as well as financial technology companies. These companies compete across geographic boundaries and provide customers with meaningful alternatives to traditional banking services in nearly all significant products. The increasingly competitive environment is a result primarily of changes in regulation, changes in technology, product delivery systems and the accelerating pace of consolidation among financial service providers. These competitive trends are likely to continue.
Acquisitions and Investments
The Bancorp’s strategy for growth includes strengthening its presence in core markets, expanding into contiguous markets and broadening its product offerings while taking into account the integration and other risks of growth. The Bancorp evaluates strategic acquisition and investment opportunities and conducts due diligence activities in connection with possible transactions. As a result, discussions, and in some cases, negotiations may take place and future acquisitions involving cash, debt or equity securities may occur. These typically involve the payment of a premium over book value and current market price, and therefore, some dilution of book value and net income per share may occur with any future transactions.
Regulation and Supervision
In addition to the generally applicable state and federal laws governing businesses and employers, the Bancorp and its banking subsidiary are subject to extensive regulation by federal and state laws and regulations applicable to financial institutions and their parent companies. Virtually all aspects of the business of the Bancorp and its banking subsidiary are subject to specific requirements or restrictions and general regulatory oversight. The principal objectives of state and federal banking laws and regulations and the supervision, regulation and examination of banks and their parent companies (such as the Bancorp) by bank regulatory agencies are the maintenance of the safety and soundness of financial institutions, maintenance of the federal deposit insurance system and the protection of consumers or classes of consumers, rather than the specific protection of shareholders of a bank or the parent company of a bank. The Bancorp and its subsidiaries are subject to an extensive regulatory framework of complex and comprehensive federal and state laws and regulations addressing the provision of banking and other financial services and other aspects of the Bancorp’s businesses and operations. Regulation and regulatory oversight have increased significantly since 2010 as a result of the passage of The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the “DFA”).
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The DFA imposes regulatory requirements and oversight over banks and other financial institutions in a number of ways, among which are (i) creating the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (the “CFPB”) to regulate consumer financial products and services; (ii) creating the Financial Stability Oversight Council to identify and impose additional regulatory oversight on large financial firms; (iii) granting orderly liquidation authority to the FDIC for the liquidation of financial corporations that pose a risk to the financial system of the U.S.; (iv) requiring financial institutions to draft a resolution plan that contemplates the dissolution of the enterprise and submit that resolution plan to both the Federal Reserve and the FDIC; (v) limiting debit card interchange fees; (vi) adopting certain changes to shareholder rights and responsibilities, including a shareholder “say on pay” vote on executive compensation; (vii) strengthening the SEC’s powers to regulate securities markets; (viii) regulating OTC derivative markets; (ix) restricting variable-rate lending by requiring the ability to repay to be determined for variable-rate loans by using the maximum rate that will apply during the first five years of a variable-rate loan term, and making more loans subject to provisions for higher cost loans, new disclosures, and certain other revisions; (x) changing the base upon which the deposit insurance assessment is assessed from deposits to, substantially, average consolidated assets minus equity; and (xi) amending the Truth in Lending Act with respect to mortgage originations, including originator compensation, minimum repayment standards, and prepayment considerations. To the extent the following material describes statutory or regulatory provisions, it is qualified in its entirety by reference to the particular statute or regulation. In addition, due to the volume of regulations required by the DFA, not all proposed or final regulations that may have an impact on the Bancorp or its banking subsidiary are necessarily discussed.
Regulators
The Bancorp and/or its banking subsidiary are subject to regulation and supervision primarily by the FRB, the CFPB and the Ohio Division of Financial Institutions (the “Division”) and additionally by certain other functional regulators and self-regulatory organizations. The Bancorp is also subject to regulation by the SEC by virtue of its status as a public company and due to the nature of some of its businesses. The Bancorp’s banking subsidiary is subject to regulation by the FDIC, which insures the bank’s deposits as permitted by law.
The federal and state laws and regulations that are applicable to banks and to BHCs regulate, among other matters, the scope of their business, their activities, their investments, their capital and liquidity levels, their reserves against deposits, the timing of the availability of deposited funds, the amount of loans to individual and related borrowers and the nature, the amount of and collateral for certain loans, and the amount of interest that may be charged on loans as applicable. Various federal and state consumer laws and regulations also affect the services provided to consumers.
The Bancorp and/or its banking subsidiary are required to file various reports with, and is subject to examination by regulators, including the FRB and the Division. The FRB, the Division and the CFPB have the authority to issue orders for BHCs and/or banks to cease and desist from certain banking practices and violations of conditions imposed by, or violations of agreements with, the FRB, the Division and the CFPB. Certain of the Bancorp’s and/or its banking subsidiary regulators are also empowered to assess civil money penalties against companies or individuals in certain situations, such as when there is a violation of a law or regulation.
Applicable state and federal laws also grant certain regulators the authority to impose additional requirements and restrictions on the activities of the Bancorp and or its banking subsidiary and, in some situations, the imposition of such additional requirements and restrictions will not be publicly available information.
Acquisitions
The BHCA requires the prior approval of the FRB for a BHC to acquire substantially all the assets of a bank or to acquire direct or indirect ownership or control of more than 5% of any class of the voting shares of any bank, BHC or savings association, or to increase any such non-majority ownership or control of any bank, BHC or savings association, or to merge or consolidate with any BHC.
The BHCA prohibits a BHC from acquiring a direct or indirect interest in or control of more than 5% of any class of the voting shares of a company that is not a bank or a BHC and from engaging directly or indirectly in activities other than those of banking, managing or controlling banks or furnishing services to its banking subsidiaries, except that it may engage in and may own shares of companies engaged in certain activities the FRB has determined to be so closely related to banking or managing or controlling banks as to be proper incident thereto.
Financial Holding Companies
The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999 (“GLBA”) permits a qualifying BHC to become a financial holding company (“FHC”) and thereby to engage directly or indirectly in a broader range of activities than those permitted for a BHC under the BHCA. Permitted activities for a FHC include securities underwriting and dealing, insurance underwriting and brokerage, merchant banking and other activities that are declared by the FRB, in cooperation with the Treasury Department, to be “financial in nature or incidental thereto” or are declared by the FRB unilaterally to be “complementary” to financial activities. In addition, a FHC is allowed to conduct permissible new financial activities or acquire permissible non-bank financial companies with after-the-fact notice to the FRB. A BHC may elect to become a FHC if each of its banking subsidiaries is well capitalized, is well managed and has at least a “Satisfactory” rating under the Community Reinvestment Act (“CRA”). The DFA also extended the well capitalized and well managed requirement to the BHC. In 2000, the Bancorp elected and qualified for FHC status under the GLBA. To maintain FHC status, a holding company must continue to meet certain requirements. The failure to meet such requirements could result in material restrictions on the activities of the FHC and may also adversely affect the FHC’s ability to enter into certain transactions or obtain necessary approvals in connection therewith, as well as loss of FHC status. If restrictions are imposed on the activities of an FHC, such information may not necessarily be available to the public.
Dividends
The Bancorp depends in part upon dividends received from its direct and indirect subsidiaries, including its indirect banking subsidiary, to fund its activities, including the payment of dividends. The Bancorp and its banking subsidiary are subject to various federal and state restrictions on their ability to pay dividends. The FRB has authority to prohibit BHCs from paying dividends if such payment is deemed to be an unsafe or unsound practice.
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The FRB has indicated generally that it may be an unsafe or unsound practice for BHCs to pay dividends unless a BHC’s net income is sufficient to fund the dividends and the expected rate of earnings retention is consistent with the organization’s capital needs, asset quality and overall financial condition. The ability to pay dividends may be further limited by provisions of the DFA and implanting regulations (see Systematically Significant Companies and Capital).
Source of Strength
Under long-standing FRB policy and now as codified in the DFA, a BHC is expected to act as a source of financial and managerial strength to each of its banking subsidiaries and to commit resources to their support. This support may be required at times when the BHC may not have the resources to provide it.
FDIC Assessments
Pursuant to the DFA, in 2011 the FDIC revised the framework by which insured depository institutions with more than $10 billion in assets (“large IDIs”) are assessed for purposes of payments to the Deposit Insurance Fund (the “DIF”).
Prior to the passage of the DFA, a large IDI’s DIF premiums principally were based on the size of an IDI’s domestic deposit base. The DFA changed the assessment base from a large IDI’s domestic deposit base to its total assets less tangible equity. In addition to potentially greatly increasing the size of a large IDI’s assessment base, the expansion of the assessment base affords the FDIC much greater flexibility to vary its assessment system based upon the different asset classes that large IDIs normally hold on their balance sheets.
To implement this provision, the FDIC created an assessment scheme vastly different from the deposit-based system. Under the new system, large IDIs are assessed under a complex “scorecard” methodology that seeks to capture both the probability that an individual large IDI will fail and the magnitude of the impact on the DIF if such a failure occurs.
During the first quarter of 2016, the FDIC issued a final rule implementing a 4.5 bps surcharge on the quarterly FDIC insurance assessments of insured depository institutions with total consolidated assets of $10 billion or more. The Bancorp became subject to the FDIC surcharge and reduced regular FDIC insurance assessments on July 1, 2016. The surcharges will continue through the quarter that the DIF reserve ratio first reaches or exceeds 1.35% of insured deposits, but not later than December 31, 2018. If the reserve ratio does not reach 1.35% by December 31, 2018, the FDIC will impose a shortfall assessment on March 31, 2019, on insured depository institutions with total consolidated assets of $10 billion or more.
Transactions with Affiliates
Sections 23A and 23B of the Federal Reserve Act, restrict transactions between a bank and its affiliates (as defined in Sections 23A and 23B of the Federal Reserve Act), including a parent BHC. The Bancorp’s banking subsidiary is subject to certain restrictions, including but not limited to restrictions on loans to its affiliates, on investments in the stock or securities thereof, on the taking of such stock or securities as collateral for loans to any borrower, and on the issuance of a guarantee or letter of credit on their behalf. Among other things, these restrictions limit the amount of such transactions, require collateral in prescribed amounts for extensions of credit, prohibit the purchase of low quality assets and require that the terms of such transactions be substantially equivalent to terms of comparable transactions with non-affiliates. Generally, the Bancorp’s banking subsidiary is limited in its extension of credit to any affiliate to 10% of the banking subsidiary’s capital stock and surplus and its extension of credit to all affiliates to 20% of the banking subsidiary’s capital stock and surplus.
Community Reinvestment Act
The CRA generally requires insured depository institutions, including the Bank, to identify the communities they serve and to make loans and investments and provide services that meet the credit needs of those communities and the CRA requires the FRB to evaluate the performance of such depository institutions with respect to these CRA obligations. Depository institutions must maintain comprehensive records of their CRA activities for purposes of these examinations. The FRB must take into account the record of performance of depository institutions in meeting the credit needs of the entire community served, including low- and moderate-income neighborhoods. For purposes of CRA examinations, the FRB rates such institutions’ compliance with the CRA as “Outstanding,” “Satisfactory,” “Needs to Improve” or “Substantial Noncompliance.” The Bank must be well-capitalized, well-managed and maintain at least a “Satisfactory” CRA rating for the Bancorp to retain its status as a financial holding company. Failure to meet these requirements could result in the FRB placing limitations or conditions on the Bancorp’s activities (and the commencement of new activities, including merger with or acquisitions of other financial institutions) and could ultimately result in the loss of financial holding company status. The FRB conducted a regularly scheduled examination covering 2011 through 2013 to determine the Bancorp’s banking subsidiary’s compliance with the CRA. This CRA examination resulted in a rating of “Needs to Improve”. The Bank believes that the “Needs to Improve” rating reflects legacy issues that have been remediated during the intervening three years. While the Bank’s CRA rating is “Needs to Improve” the Bancorp and the Bank face limitations and conditions on certain activities, including the commencement of new activities and merger with or acquisitions of other financial institutions. The Bank’s next CRA examination commenced during the fourth quarter of 2016.
Capital Generally
The FRB has established capital guidelines for BHCs and FHCs. The FRB, the Division and the FDIC have also issued regulations establishing capital requirements for banks. Failure to meet capital requirements could subject the Bancorp and its banking subsidiary to a variety of restrictions and enforcement actions. In addition, as discussed previously, the Bancorp and its banking subsidiary must remain well capitalized and well managed for the Bancorp to retain its status as a FHC.
Systemically Significant Companies and Capital
Title I of the DFA created a new regulatory regime for large BHCs. U.S. BHCs with $50 billion or more in total consolidated assets, including Fifth Third, are subject to enhanced prudential standards and early remediation requirements under Title I. Title I of the DFA established a broad framework for identifying, applying heightened supervision and regulation to, and (as necessary) limiting the size and activities of systemically significant financial companies.
The DFA required the FRB to impose enhanced capital and risk-management standards on these firms and mandated the FRB to conduct annual stress tests on all BHCs with $50 billion or more in assets to determine whether they have adequate capital available to absorb losses in baseline, adverse, or severely adverse economic conditions. In November 2011, the FRB adopted final rules requiring BHCs with $50 billion or more in consolidated assets to submit capital plans to the FRB on an annual basis.
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Under the Comprehensive Capital Analysis and Review (CCAR) process, the FRB annually evaluates an institution’s capital adequacy, internal capital adequacy, assessment processes and capital distribution plans such as dividend payments and stock repurchases. Banks are also required to report certain data to the FRB on a quarterly basis to allow the FRB to monitor progress against the approved capital plans.
The CCAR process is intended to help ensure that BHCs have robust, forward-looking capital planning processes that account for each company’s unique risks and that permit continued operations during times of economic and financial stress. The mandatory elements of the capital plan are an assessment of the expected uses and sources of capital over a nine-quarter planning horizon, a description of all planned capital actions over the planning horizon, a discussion of any expected changes to the Bancorp’s business plan that are likely to have a material impact on its capital adequacy or liquidity, a detailed description of the Bancorp’s process for assessing capital adequacy and the Bancorp’s capital policy. The stress tests require increased involvement by boards of directors in stress testing and public disclosure of the results of both the FRB’s annual stress tests and a BHC’s annual supervisory stress tests, and semi-annual internal stress tests.
In 2014, the FRB amended its capital planning and stress testing rules to, among other things, generally limit a BHC’s ability to make quarterly capital distributions - that is, dividends and share repurchases - commencing April 1, 2015 if the amount of the bank’s actual cumulative quarterly capital issuances of instruments that qualify as regulatory capital are less than the bank had indicated in its submitted capital plan as to which it received a non-objection from the FRB. For example, if the BHC issued a smaller amount of additional common stock than it had stated in its capital plan, it would be required to reduce common dividends and/or the amount of common stock repurchases so that the dollar amount of capital distributions, net of the dollar amount of additional common stock issued (“net distributions”), is no greater than the dollar amount of net distributions relating to its common stock included in its capital plan, as measured on an aggregate basis beginning in the third quarter of the nine-quarter planning horizon through the end of the then current quarter. However, not raising sufficient amounts of common stock as planned would not affect distributions related to Additional Tier I Capital instruments and/ or Tier II Capital. These limitations also contain several important qualifications and exceptions, including that scheduled dividend payments on (as opposed to repurchases of) a BHC’s Additional Tier I Capital and Tier II Capital instruments are not restricted if the BHC fails to issue a sufficient amount of such instruments as planned, as well as provisions for certain de minimis excess distributions. BHCs with consolidated assets of $50 billion or more are required to submit their 2017 capital plan to the FRB by April 5, 2017.
In December of 2010 and revised in June of 2011, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (the “Basel Committee”) issued Basel III, a global regulatory framework, to enhance international capital standards. Basel III is designed to materially improve the quality of regulatory capital and introduces a new minimum common equity requirement. Basel III also raises the minimum capital requirements and introduces capital conservation and countercyclical buffers to induce banking organizations to hold capital in excess of regulatory minimums. In addition, Basel III establishes an international leverage standard for internationally active banks.
In July of 2013, U.S. banking regulators approved the final enhanced regulatory capital rules (“Final Capital Rules”). The Final Capital Rules substantially revise the risk-based capital requirements applicable to BHCs and their depository institution subsidiaries as compared to the previous U.S. risk-based capital and leverage ratio rules, and thereby implement certain provisions of the DFA.
The Final Capital Rules, among other things, (i) introduce a new capital measure “Common Equity Tier I” (“CET1”), (ii) specify that Tier I capital consists of CET1 and “Additional Tier I capital” instruments meeting specified requirements, (iii) define CET1 narrowly by requiring that most adjustments to regulatory capital measures be made to CET1 and not to the other components of capital and (iv) expand the scope of the adjustments as compared to existing regulations. CET1 capital consists of common stock instruments that meet the eligibility criteria in the final rules, including; common stock and related surplus, net of treasury stock and retained earnings, certain minority interests and accumulated other comprehensive income (“AOCI”), if elected.
When fully phased-in on January 1, 2019, the Final Capital Rules require banking organizations to maintain (i) a minimum ratio of CET1 to risk-weighted assets of at least 4.5%, plus a 2.5% “capital conservation buffer” (which is added to the 4.5% CET1 ratio as that buffer is phased-in, effectively resulting in a minimum ratio of CET1 to risk-weighted assets of at least 7.0% upon full implementation), (ii) a minimum ratio of Tier I capital to risk-weighted assets of at least 6.0%, plus the capital conservation buffer (which is added to the 6.0% Tier I capital ratio as that buffer is phased-in, effectively resulting in a minimum Tier I capital ratio of 8.5% upon full implementation), (iii) a minimum ratio of total capital (that is, Tier I plus Tier 2 capital) to risk-weighted assets of at least 8.0%, plus the capital conservation buffer (which is added to the 8.0% total capital ratio as that buffer is phased-in, effectively resulting in a minimum total capital ratio of 10.5% upon full implementation) and (iv) a minimum Tier I leverage ratio of 4.0%, calculated as the ratio of Tier I capital to adjusted average consolidated assets.
Banking institutions with a ratio of CET1 to risk-weighted assets above the minimum but below the conservation buffer will face limitations on the payment of dividends, common stock repurchases and discretionary cash payments to executive officers based on the amount of the shortfall.
The Final Capital Rules provide for a number of deductions from and adjustments to CET1. These include, for example, the requirement that mortgage servicing rights, deferred tax assets dependent upon future taxable income and significant investments in non-consolidated financial entities be deducted from CET1 to the extent that any one such category exceeds 10% of CET1 or all such categories in the aggregate exceed 15% of CET1. Under the Final Capital Rules, the Bancorp made a one-time election (the “Opt-out Election”) to filter certain AOCI components, comparable to the treatment under the current general risk-based capital rule.
The Final Capital Rules were effective for the Bancorp on January 1, 2015, subject to phase-in periods for certain of their components and other provisions. Although not currently required, Fifth Third Bancorp believes the aforementioned capital ratios under the revised Final Capital Rules meet or exceed the ratios on a fully phased-in basis. Refer to the Non-GAAP Financial Measures section of MD&A for an estimated CET1 capital ratio under the Basel III Final Rule (fully phased-in) as of December 31, 2016.
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In February 2014, the FRB approved a final rule implementing several heightened prudential requirements. The rules require BHCs with $10 billion or more in consolidated assets to establish risk committees and require BHCs with $50 billion or more in total consolidated assets to comply with enhanced liquidity and overall risk management standards, including company-run liquidity stress testing and a buffer of highly liquid assets based on projected funding needs for various time horizons, including 30, 60, and 90 days. These liquidity-related provisions are designed to be complementary, and in addition to the Final LCR Rule applicable to BHCs (as discussed below). Rules to implement two other components of the DFA’s enhanced prudential standards -single-counterparty credit limits and early remediation requirements- are still under consideration by the FRB. Fifth Third has conducted a self evaluation of all the requirements within the enhanced prudential standards, and believe the necessary steps have been taken to ensure compliance with all requirements regarding liquidity, risk exposures, and early remediation.
Liquidity Regulation
Liquidity risk management and supervision have become increasingly important since the financial crisis. On September 3, 2014, the FRB and other banking regulators adopted final rules (“Final LCR Rule”) implementing a U.S. version of the Basel Committee’s Liquidity Coverage Ratio requirement (“LCR”), which is designed to ensure that the banking entity maintains an adequate level of unencumbered high-quality liquid assets (“HQLA”) equal to the entity’s expected net cash outflow for a 30-day time horizon (or, if greater, 25% of its expected total cash outflow) under an acute liquidity stress scenario. The rules apply in modified form to banking organizations, such as the Bancorp, having $50 billion or more in total consolidated assets but less than $250 billion. The LCR is the ratio of an institution’s stock of HQLA (the numerator) over projected net cash out-flows over the 30-day horizon (the denominator), in each case, as calculated pursuant to the Final LCR Rule. Once fully phased-in, a subject institution must maintain an LCR equal to at least 100% in order to satisfy this regulatory requirement. Only specific classes of assets, including U.S. Treasuries, other U.S. government obligations and agency mortgaged-backed securities, qualify under the rule as HQLA, with classes of assets deemed relatively less liquid and/or subject to greater degree of credit risk subject to certain haircuts and caps for purposes of calculating the numerator under the Final LCR Rule. The total net cash outflows amount is determined under the rule by applying certain hypothetical outflow and inflow rates, which reflect certain standardized stressed assumptions, against the balances of the banking organization’s funding sources, obligations, transactions and assets over the 30-day stress period. Inflows that can be included to offset outflows are limited to 75% of outflows (which effectively means that banking organizations must hold high-quality liquid assets equal to 25% of outflows even if outflows perfectly match inflows over the stress period). The total net cash outflow amount for the modified LCR applicable to the Bancorp is capped at 70% of the outflow rate that applies to the full LCR.
The initial compliance date for the modified LCR was January 31, 2016, with the requirement fully phased-in on January 1, 2017. The LCR is a minimum requirement, and the FRB can impose additional liquidity requirements as a supervisory matter.
In addition, the Bancorp is also subject to the liquidity-related requirements of the enhanced prudential supervision rules adopted by the FRB under Section 165 of the DFA, as described above. As of December 31, 2016, the Bancorp’s modified LCR complied with the fully phased-in LCR requirements which became effective on January 1, 2017.
In addition to the LCR, the Basel III framework also included a second standard, referred to as the net stable funding ratio (“NSFR”), which is designed to promote more medium-and long-term funding of the assets and activities of banks over a one-year time horizon. In May, 2016, the federal banking agencies proposed an NSFR Rule. As proposed the most stringent requirements would apply to firms with $250 billion or more in assets or $10 billion or more in on-balance sheet foreign exposure. Holding companies with less than $250 billion, but more than $50 billion in assets and less than $10 billion in on-balance foreign exposure, such as the Bancorp, would be subject to a less stringent, modified NFSR requirement.
Privacy
The FRB, FDIC and other bank regulatory agencies have adopted final guidelines (the “Guidelines) for safeguarding confidential, personal customer information. The Guidelines require each financial institution, under the supervision and ongoing oversight of its Board of Directors or an appropriate committee thereof, to create, implement and maintain a comprehensive written information security program designed to ensure the security and confidentiality of customer information, protect against any anticipated threats or hazards to the security or integrity of such information and protect against unauthorized access to or use of such information that could result in substantial harm or inconvenience to any customer. The Bancorp has adopted a customer information security program that has been approved by the Bancorp’s Board of Directors.
The GLBA requires financial institutions to implement policies and procedures regarding the disclosure of nonpublic personal information about consumers to non-affiliated third parties. In general, the statute requires explanations to consumers on policies and procedures regarding the disclosure of such nonpublic personal information, and, except as otherwise required by law, prohibits disclosing such information except as provided in the banking subsidiary’s policies and procedures. The Bancorp’s banking subsidiary has implemented a privacy policy.
Anti-Money Laundering
The Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001 (the “Patriot Act”), designed to deny terrorists and others the ability to obtain access to the United States financial system, has significant implications for depository institutions, brokers, dealers and other businesses involved in the transfer of money. The Patriot Act, as implemented by various federal regulatory agencies, requires financial institutions, including the Bancorp and its subsidiaries, to implement new policies and procedures or amend existing policies and procedures with respect to, among other matters, anti-money laundering, compliance, suspicious activity and currency transaction reporting and due diligence on customers. The Patriot Act and its underlying regulations also permit information sharing for counter-terrorist purposes between federal law enforcement agencies and financial institutions, as well as among financial institutions, subject to certain conditions, and require the FRB (and other federal banking agencies) to evaluate the effectiveness of an applicant in combating money laundering activities when considering applications filed under Section 3 of the BHCA or the Bank Merger Act. The Bancorp’s Board has approved policies and procedures that are believed to be compliant with the Patriot Act.
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Exempt Brokerage Activities
The GLBA amended the federal securities laws to eliminate the blanket exceptions that banks traditionally have had from the definition of “broker” and “dealer.” The GLBA also required that there be certain transactional activities that would not be “brokerage” activities, which banks could effect without having to register as a broker. In September 2007, the FRB and SEC approved Regulation R to govern bank securities activities. Various exemptions permit banks to conduct activities that would otherwise constitute brokerage activities under the securities laws. Those exemptions include conducting brokerage activities related to trust, fiduciary and similar services, certain services and also conducting a de minimis number of riskless principal transactions, certain asset-backed transactions and certain securities lending transactions. The Bancorp only conducts non-exempt brokerage activities through its affiliated registered broker-dealer.
Financial Stability Oversight Council
The DFA created the Financial Stability Oversight Council (“FSOC”), which is chaired by the Secretary of the Treasury and composed of expertise from various financial services regulators. The FSOC has responsibility for identifying risks and responding to emerging threats to financial stability.
Executive Compensation
The DFA provides for a say on pay for shareholders of all public companies. Under the DFA, each company must give its shareholders the opportunity to vote on the compensation of its executives at least once every three years. The DFA also adds disclosure and voting requirements for golden parachute compensation that is payable to named executive officers in connection with sale transactions. The SEC adopted rules finalizing these say on pay provisions in January 2011.
Pursuant to the DFA, in June 2012, the SEC adopted a final rule directing the stock exchanges to prohibit listing classes of equity securities if a company’s compensation committee members are not independent. The rule also provides that a company’s compensation committee may only select a compensation consultant, legal counsel or other advisor after taking into consideration factors to be identified by the SEC that affect the independence of a compensation consultant, legal counsel or other advisor.
The SEC is required under the DFA to issue rules obligating companies to disclose in proxy materials for annual meetings of shareholders information that shows the relationship between executive compensation actually paid to their named executive officers and their financial performance, taking into account any change in the value of the shares of a company’s stock and dividends or distributions. The DFA also requires the SEC to propose rules requiring companies to disclose the ratio of the compensation of its chief executive officer to the median compensation of its employees. The SEC adopted final rules implementing the pay ratio provisions in August 2015. For a registrant with a fiscal year ending on December 31, such as Bancorp, the pay ratio will be required as part of its executive compensation disclosure in proxy statements or Form 10-Ks filed starting in 2018.
The DFA provides that the SEC must issue rules directing the stock exchanges to prohibit listing any security of a company unless the company develops and implements a policy providing for disclosure of the policy of the company on incentive-based compensation that is based on financial information required to be reported under the securities laws and that, in the event the company is required to prepare an accounting restatement due to the material noncompliance of the company with any financial reporting requirement under the securities laws, the company will recover from any current or former executive officer of the company who received incentive-based compensation during the three-year period preceding the date on which the company is required to prepare the restatement based on the erroneous data, any exceptional compensation above what would have been paid under the restatement.
The DFA requires the SEC to adopt a rule to require that each company disclose in the proxy materials for its annual meetings whether an employee or board member is permitted to purchase financial instruments designed to hedge or offset decreases in the market value of equity securities granted as compensation or otherwise held by the employee or board member.
In June 2016, the SEC and the federal banking agencies issued a proposed rule to implement the incentive-based compensation provisions of section 956 of the DFA. The proposal would establish new requirements for incentive-based compensation at institutions with assets of at least $1 billion.
Corporate Governance
The DFA clarifies that the SEC may, but is not required to promulgate rules that would require that a company’s proxy materials include a nominee for the board of directors submitted by a shareholder. Although the SEC promulgated rules to accomplish this, these rules were invalidated by a federal appeals court decision. The SEC has said that they will not challenge the ruling, but has not ruled out the possibility that new rules could be proposed.
The DFA requires stock exchanges to have rules prohibiting their members from voting securities that they do not beneficially own (unless they have received voting instructions from the beneficial owner) with respect to the election of a member of the board of directors (other than an uncontested election of directors of an investment company registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940), executive compensation or any other significant matter, as determined by the SEC by rule.
Debit Card Interchange Fees
The DFA provides for a set of new rules requiring that interchange transaction fees for electric debit transactions be “reasonable” and proportional to certain costs associated with processing the transactions. The FRB was given authority to, among other things, establish standards for assessing whether interchange fees are reasonable and proportional. In June 2011, the FRB issued a final rule establishing certain standards and prohibitions pursuant to the DFA, including establishing standards for debit card interchange fees and allowing for an upward adjustment if the issuer develops and implements policies and procedures reasonably designed to prevent fraud. The provisions regarding debit card interchange fees and the fraud adjustment became effective October 1, 2011. The rules impose requirements on the Bancorp and its banking subsidiary and may negatively impact our revenues and results of operations.
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On July 31, 2013, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued an order granting summary judgment to the plaintiffs in a case challenging certain provisions of the FRB’s rule concerning electronic debit card transaction fees and network exclusivity arrangements (the “Current Rule”) that were adopted to implement Section 1075 of the DFA, known as the Durbin Amendment. The Court held that, in adopting the Current Rule, the FRB violated the Durbin Amendment’s provisions concerning which costs are allowed to be taken into account for purposes of setting fees that are reasonable and proportional to the costs incurred by the issuer and therefore the Current Rule’s maximum permissible fees were too high. In addition, the Court held that the Current Rule’s network non-exclusivity provisions concerning unaffiliated payment networks for debit cards also violated the Durbin Amendment. The Court vacated the Current Rule, but stayed its ruling to provide the FRB an opportunity to replace the invalidated portions. The FRB appealed this decision and on March 21, 2014, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the District Court’s grant of summary judgment and remanded the case for further proceedings in accordance with its opinion. The merchants have filed a petition for writ of certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court. However, on January 20, 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal of the Circuit Court reversal, thereby largely upholding the Current Rule and substantially reducing uncertainty surrounding debit card interchange fees the Bancorp is permitted to charge.
FDIC Matters and Resolution Planning
Title II of the DFA creates an orderly liquidation process that the FDIC can employ for failing systemically important financial companies. Additionally, the DFA also codifies many of the temporary changes that had already been implemented, such as permanently increasing the amount of deposit insurance to $250,000.
In January 2012, the FDIC issued a final rule that requires an insured depository institution with $50 billion or more in total assets to submit periodic contingency plans to the FDIC for resolution in the event of the institution’s failure. The Bancorp’s banking subsidiary is subject to this rule and submitted its most recent resolution plan pursuant to this rule as of December 31, 2015.
In October 2011, the FRB and FDIC issued a final rule implementing the resolution planning requirements of Section 165(d) of the DFA. The final rule requires BHCs with assets of $50 billion or more and nonbank financial firms designated by FSOC for supervision by the FRB to annually submit resolution plans to the FDIC and FRB. Each plan shall describe the company’s strategy for rapid and orderly resolution in bankruptcy during times of financial distress. Under the final rule, companies must submit their initial resolution plans on a staggered basis. The Bancorp submitted its most recent resolution plan pursuant to this rule as of December 31, 2015. In August 2016, the FDIC and the FRB announced that 38 firms, including Fifth Third, will be required to submit their next resolutions by December 31, 2017.
Proprietary Trading and Investing in Certain Funds
The DFA sets forth new restrictions on banking organizations’ ability to engage in proprietary trading and sponsors of or invest in private equity and hedge funds (the “Volcker Rule”). The final regulations implementing the Volcker Rule (“Final Rules”) were adopted on December 10, 2013. The Volcker Rule generally prohibits any banking entity from (i) engaging in short-term proprietary trading for its own account and (ii) sponsoring or
acquiring any ownership interest in a private equity or hedge fund. The Volcker Rule and Final Rules contain a number of exceptions. The Volcker Rule permits transactions in the securities of the U.S. government and its agencies, certain government-sponsored enterprises and states and their political subdivisions, as well as certain investments in small business investment companies. Transactions on behalf of customers and in connection with certain underwriting and market making activities, as well as risk-mitigating hedging activities and certain foreign banking activities are also permitted. The Final Rules exclude certain funds from the prohibition on fund ownership and sponsorship including wholly-owned subsidiaries, joint ventures, and acquisitions vehicles, as well as SEC registered investment companies. De minimis ownership of private equity or hedge funds is also permitted under the Final Rules. In addition to the general prohibition on sponsorship and investment, the Volcker rule contains additional requirements applicable to any private equity or hedge fund that is sponsored by the banking entity or for which it serves as investment manager or investment advisor. The Bancorp is required under the Final Rules to demonstrate that it has a Volcker Rule compliance program. Further, with respect to covered funds that are “illiquid funds”, the FRB has the authority to grant up to five more years for the Bancorp to conform to the final Volcker Rule with respect to such illiquid funds.
Derivatives
Title VII of the DFA includes measures to broaden the scope of derivative instruments subject to regulation by requiring clearing and exchange trading of certain derivatives, imposing new capital and margin requirements for certain market participants and imposing position limits on certain over-the-counter derivatives. Fifth Third Bank is provisionally registered with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission as a swap dealer. As with the Volcker Rule, the Bank is required to demonstrate that it has a satisfactory compliance program to monitor its activities under these regulations. Certain regulations implementing Title VII of the DFA have not been finalized. The ultimate impact of these regulations, and the time it will take to comply, continues to remain uncertain. The final regulations may impose additional operational and compliance costs on us and may require us to restructure certain businesses and negatively impact our revenues and results of operations.
Future Legislative and Regulatory Initiatives
Federal and state legislators as well as regulatory agencies may introduce or enact new laws and rules, or amend existing laws and rules, that may affect the regulation of financial institutions and their holding companies. The impact of any future legislative or regulatory changes cannot be predicted. However, such changes could affect Bancorp’s business, financial condition and results of operations.
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ITEM 1A.
ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS
The risks listed below present risks that could have a material impact on the Bancorp’s financial condition, the results of its operations, or its business. Some of these risks are interrelated, and the occurrence of one or more of them may exacerbate the effect of others.
RISKS RELATING TO ECONOMIC AND MARKET CONDITIONS
Weakness in the U.S. economy, including within Fifth Third’s geographic footprint, has adversely affected Fifth Third in the past and may adversely affect Fifth Third in the future.
If the strength of the U.S. economy in general or the strength of the local economies in which Fifth Third conducts operations declines, this could result in, among other things, a decreased demand for Fifth Third’s products and services, a deterioration in credit quality or a reduced demand for credit, including a resultant effect on Fifth Third’s loan portfolio and ALLL and in the receipt of lower proceeds from the sale of loans and foreclosed properties. These factors could result in higher delinquencies, greater charge-offs and increased losses in future periods, which could materially adversely affect Fifth Third’s financial condition and results of operations.
Global financial conditions could hamper economic recovery or contribute to recessionary economic conditions and severe stress in the financial markets, including in the United States. Should the U.S. economy be adversely impacted by these factors, the likelihood for loan and asset growth at U.S. financial institutions, like Fifth Third, may deteriorate.
The global financial markets continue to be strained as a result of economic slowdowns, geopolitical concerns and the related path of commodity prices and interest rates. Divergence in economic growth in the U.S. and international economies and the resulting differences in monetary policy are placing strains on financial markets and strengthening the U.S. dollar. The relative strength of the U.S. dollar may continue to negatively impact the U.S. manufacturing sector. These factors could negatively impact the U.S. economy and affect the stability of global financial markets.
Changes in interest rates could affect Fifth Third’s income and cash flows.
Fifth Third’s income and cash flows depend to a great extent on the difference between the interest rates earned on interest-earning assets such as loans and investment securities, and the interest rates paid on interest-bearing liabilities such as deposits and borrowings. These rates are highly sensitive to many factors that are beyond Fifth Third’s control, including general economic conditions in the U.S. or abroad and the policies of various governmental and regulatory agencies (in particular, the FRB). Changes in monetary policy, including changes in interest rates, will influence the origination of loans, the prepayment speed of loans, the purchase of investments, the generation of deposits and the rates received on loans and investment securities and paid on deposits or other sources of funding. The impact of these changes may be magnified if Fifth Third does not effectively manage the relative sensitivity of its assets and liabilities to changes in market interest rates. Fluctuations in these areas may adversely affect Fifth Third and its shareholders.
Changes and trends in the capital markets may affect Fifth Third’s income and cash flows.
Fifth Third enters into and maintains trading and investment positions in the capital markets on its own behalf and manages investment positions on behalf of its customers. These investment positions include derivative financial instruments. The revenues and profits Fifth Third derives from managing proprietary and customer trading and investment positions are dependent on market prices. Market changes and trends may result in a decline in wealth and asset management revenue or investment or trading losses that may impact Fifth Third. Losses on behalf of its customers could expose Fifth Third to litigation, credit risks or loss of revenue from those clients and customers. Additionally, losses in Fifth Third’s trading and investment positions could lead to a loss with respect to those investments and may adversely affect Fifth Third’s income, cash flows and funding costs.
Problems encountered by financial institutions larger than or similar to Fifth Third could adversely affect financial markets generally and have direct and indirect adverse effects on Fifth Third.
Fifth Third has exposure to counterparties in the financial services industry and other industries, and routinely executes transactions with such counterparties, including brokers and dealers, commercial banks, investment banks, mutual and hedge funds, and other institutional clients. Many of Fifth Third’s transactions with other financial institutions expose Fifth Third to credit risk in the event of default of a counterparty or client. In addition, Fifth Third’s credit risk may be affected when the collateral it holds cannot be realized or is liquidated at prices not sufficient to recover the full amount of the loan or derivative exposure. The commercial soundness of many financial institutions may be closely interrelated as a result of credit, trading, clearing or other relationships between the institutions. As a result, concerns about, or a default or threatened default by, one institution could lead to significant market-wide liquidity and credit problems, losses or defaults by other institutions. This is sometimes referred to as “systemic risk” and may adversely affect financial intermediaries, such as clearing agencies, clearing houses, banks, securities firms and exchanges, with which the Bancorp interacts on a daily basis, and therefore could adversely affect Fifth Third.
Fifth Third’s stock price is volatile.
Fifth Third’s stock price has been volatile in the past and several factors could cause the price to fluctuate substantially in the future. These factors include, without limitation:
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Actual or anticipated variations in earnings;
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Changes in analysts’ recommendations or projections;
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Fifth Third’s announcements of developments related to its businesses;
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Operating and stock performance of other companies deemed to be peers;
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Actions by government regulators and changes in the regulatory regime;
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New technology used or services offered by traditional and non-traditional competitors;
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News reports of trends, concerns and other issues related to the financial services industry;
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U.S. and global economic conditions;
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Natural disasters;
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Geopolitical conditions such as acts or threats of terrorism, military conflicts and withdrawal from the EU by the U.K. or other EU members.
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The price for shares of Fifth Third’s common stock may fluctuate significantly in the future, and these fluctuations may be unrelated to Fifth Third’s performance. General market price declines or market volatility in the future could adversely affect the price for shares of Fifth Third’s common stock, and the current market price of such shares may not be indicative of future market prices.
RISKS RELATING TO FIFTH THIRD’S GENERAL BUSINESS
Changes in retail distribution strategies and consumer behavior may adversely impact Fifth Third’s investments in its bank premises and equipment and other assets and may lead to increased expenditures to change its retail distribution channel.
Fifth Third has significant investments in bank premises and equipment for its branch network including its 1,191 full-service banking centers, 50 parcels of land held for the development of future banking centers and 10 properties that are developed or in the process of being developed as branches, as well as its retail work force and other branch banking assets. Advances in technology such as e-commerce, telephone, internet and mobile banking, and in-branch self-service technologies including automatic teller machines and other equipment, as well as changing customer preferences for these other methods of accessing Fifth Third’s products and services, could affect the value of Fifth Third’s branch network or other retail distribution assets and may cause it to change its retail distribution strategy, close and/or sell certain branches or parcels of land held for development and restructure or reduce its remaining branches and work force. Further advances in technology and/or changes in customer preferences could have additional changes in Fifth Third’s retail distribution strategy and/or branch network. These actions could lead to losses on these assets or could adversely impact the carrying value of other long-lived assets and may lead to increased expenditures to renovate and reconfigure remaining branches or to otherwise reform its retail distribution channel.
Deteriorating credit quality has adversely impacted Fifth Third in the past and may adversely impact Fifth Third in the future.
When Fifth Third lends money or commits to lend money the Bancorp incurs credit risk or the risk of loss if borrowers do not repay their loans. The credit performance of the loan portfolios significantly affects the Bancorp’s financial results and condition. If the current economic environment were to deteriorate, more customers may have difficulty in repaying their loans or other obligations which could result in a higher level of credit losses and reserves for credit losses. Fifth Third reserves for credit losses by establishing reserves through a charge to earnings. The amount of these reserves is based on Fifth Third’s assessment of credit losses inherent in the loan portfolio including unfunded credit commitments. The process for determining the amount of the ALLL and the reserve for unfunded commitments is critical to Fifth Third’s financial results and condition. It requires difficult, subjective and complex judgments about the environment, including analysis of economic or market conditions that might impair the ability of borrowers to repay their loans.
Fifth Third might underestimate the credit losses inherent in its loan portfolio and have credit losses in excess of the amount reserved. Fifth Third might increase the reserve because of
changing economic conditions, including falling home prices or higher unemployment, or other factors such as changes in borrower’s behavior. As an example, borrowers may “strategically default,” or discontinue making payments on their real estate-secured loans if the value of the real estate is less than what they owe, even if they are still financially able to make the payments.
Fifth Third believes that both the ALLL and the reserve for unfunded commitments are adequate to cover inherent losses at December 31, 2016; however, there is no assurance that they will be sufficient to cover future credit losses, especially if housing and employment conditions decline. In the event of significant deterioration in economic conditions, Fifth Third may be required to increase reserves in future periods, which would reduce earnings.
For more information, refer to the Credit Risk Management subsection of the Risk Management section of MD&A and the Allowance for Loan and Losses and Reserve for Unfunded Commitments subsections of the Critical Accounting Policies section of MD&A.
Fifth Third must maintain adequate sources of funding and liquidity.
Fifth Third must maintain adequate funding sources in the normal course of business to support its operations and fund outstanding liabilities, as well as meet regulatory expectations. Fifth Third primarily relies on bank deposits to be a low cost and stable source of funding for the loans Fifth Third makes and the operations of Fifth Third’s business. Core deposits, which include transaction deposits and other time deposits, have historically provided Fifth Third with a sizeable source of relatively stable and low-cost funds (average core deposits funded 70% of average total assets at December 31, 2016). In addition to customer deposits, sources of liquidity include investments in the securities portfolio, Fifth Third’s sale or securitization of loans in secondary markets and the pledging of loans and investment securities to access secured borrowing facilities through the FHLB and the FRB, and Fifth Third’s ability to raise funds in domestic and international money and capital markets.
Fifth Third’s liquidity and ability to fund and run the business could be materially adversely affected by a variety of conditions and factors, including financial and credit market disruptions and volatility or a lack of market or customer confidence in financial markets in general similar to what occurred during the financial crisis in 2008 and early 2009, which may result in a loss of customer deposits or outflows of cash or collateral and/or ability to access capital markets on favorable terms.
Other conditions and factors that could materially adversely affect Fifth Third’s liquidity and funding include:
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a lack of market or customer confidence in Fifth Third or negative news about Fifth Third or the financial services industry generally, which also may result in a loss of deposits and/or negatively affect the ability to access the capital markets;
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the loss of customer deposits to alternative investments;
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inability to sell or securitize loans or other assets,
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increased regulatory requirements,
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and reductions in one or more of Fifth Third’s credit ratings.
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A reduced credit rating could adversely affect Fifth Third’s ability to borrow funds and raise the cost of borrowings substantially and could cause creditors and business counterparties to raise collateral requirements or take other actions that could adversely affect Fifth Third’s ability to raise capital. Many of the above conditions and factors may be caused by events over which Fifth Third has little or no control such as what occurred during the financial crisis. While market conditions have stabilized and, in many cases, improved, there can be no assurance that significant disruption and volatility in the financial markets will not occur in the future.
Recent regulatory changes relating to liquidity and risk management may also negatively impact Fifth Third’s results of operations and competitive position. Various regulations recently adopted or proposed, and additional regulations under consideration, impose or could impose more stringent liquidity requirements for large financial institutions, including Fifth Third. These regulations address, among other matters, liquidity stress testing, minimum liquidity requirements and restrictions on short-term debt issued by top-tier holding companies. Given the overlap and complex interactions of these regulations with other regulatory changes, including the resolution and recovery framework applicable to Fifth Third, the full impact of the adopted and proposed regulations will remain uncertain until their full implementation. It is also uncertain whether adopted and proposed regulations will ultimately be rolled back or modified as a result of the change in administration in the U.S. Uncertainty about the timing and scope of any such changes as well as the cost of complying with a new regulatory regime may negatively impact Fifth Third’s business.
If Fifth Third is unable to continue to fund assets through customer bank deposits or access capital markets on favorable terms or if Fifth Third suffers an increase in borrowing costs or otherwise fails to manage liquidity effectively, then Fifth Third’s liquidity, operating margins, and financial results and condition may be materially adversely affected. As Fifth Third did during the financial crisis, it may also need to raise additional capital through the issuance of stock, which could dilute the ownership of existing stockholders, or reduce or even eliminate common stock dividends to preserve capital.
Fifth Third may have more credit risk and higher credit losses to the extent loans are concentrated by location or industry of the borrowers or collateral.
Fifth Third’s credit risk and credit losses can increase if its loans are concentrated to borrowers engaged in the same or similar activities or to borrowers who as a group may be uniquely or disproportionately affected by economic or market conditions. Deterioration in economic conditions, housing conditions and commodity and real estate values in certain states or locations could result in materially higher credit losses if loans are concentrated in those locations. Fifth Third has significant exposures to businesses in certain economic sectors such as manufacturing, real estate, financial services and insurance and weaknesses in those businesses may adversely impact Fifth Third’s business, results of operations or financial condition. Additionally Fifth Third has a substantial portfolio of commercial and residential real estate loans and weaknesses in residential or commercial real estate markets may adversely impact Fifth Third’s business, results of operations or financial condition.
Fifth Third may be required to repurchase residential mortgage loans or reimburse investors and others as a result of breaches in contractual representations and warranties.
Fifth Third sells residential mortgage loans to various parties, including GSEs and other financial institutions that purchase residential mortgage loans for investment or private label securitization. Fifth Third may be required to repurchase residential mortgage loans, indemnify the securitization trust, investor or insurer, or reimburse the securitization trust, investor or insurer for credit losses incurred on loans in the event of a breach of contractual representations or warranties that is not remedied within a specified period (usually 60 days or less) after Fifth Third receives notice of the breach. Contracts for residential mortgage loan sales to the GSEs include various types of specific remedies and penalties that could be applied to inadequate responses to repurchase requests. If economic conditions and the housing market deteriorate or future investor repurchase demand and Fifth Third’s success at appealing repurchase requests differ from past experience, Fifth Third could have increased repurchase obligations and increased loss severity on repurchases, requiring material additions to the repurchase reserve.
If Fifth Third does not respond to rapid changes in the financial services industry or otherwise adapt to changing customer preferences, its financial performance may suffer.
Fifth Third’s ability to deliver strong financial performance and returns on investment to shareholders will depend in part on its ability to expand the scope of available financial services to meet the needs and demands of its customers. In addition to the challenge of competing against other banks in attracting and retaining customers for traditional banking services, Fifth Third’s competitors also include securities dealers, brokers, mortgage bankers, investment advisors, and specialty finance, telecommunications, technology and insurance companies who seek to offer one-stop financial services that may include services that banks have not been able or allowed to offer to their customers in the past or may not be currently able or allowed to offer.
This increasingly competitive environment is primarily a result of changes in regulation, changes in technology and product delivery systems, as well as the accelerating pace of consolidation among financial service providers. Rapidly changing technology and consumer preferences may require Fifth Third to effectively implement new technology-driven products and services in order to compete and meet customer demands. Fifth Third may not be able to do so or be successful in marketing these products and services to its customers. As a result, Fifth Third’s ability to effectively compete to retain or acquire new business may be impaired, and its business, financial condition or results of operations, may be adversely affected.
Fifth Third may make strategic investments and may expand an existing line of business or enter into new lines of business to remain competitive. If Fifth Third’s chosen strategies, for example, the NorthStar Strategy initiatives, are not appropriate to effectively compete or Fifth Third does not execute them in an appropriate or timely manner, Fifth Third’s business and results may suffer. Additionally, these strategies, products and lines of business may bring with them unforeseeable or unforeseen risks and may not generate the expected results or returns, which could adversely affect Fifth Third’s results of operations or future growth prospects and cause Fifth Third to fail to meet its stated goals and expectations.
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Fifth Third may not be able to successfully implement future information technology system enhancements, which could adversely affect Fifth Third’s business operations and profitability.
Fifth Third invests significant resources in information technology system enhancements in order to provide functionality and security at an appropriate level. Fifth Third may not be able to successfully implement and integrate future system enhancements, which could adversely impact the ability to provide timely and accurate financial information in compliance with legal and regulatory requirements, which could result in sanctions from regulatory authorities. Such sanctions could include fines and result in reputational harm and have other negative effects. In addition, future system enhancements could have higher than expected costs and/or result in operating inefficiencies, which could increase the costs associated with the implementation as well as ongoing operations. Failure to properly utilize system enhancements that are implemented in the future could result in impairment charges that adversely impact Fifth Third’s financial condition and results of operations and could result in significant costs to remediate or replace the defective components. In addition, Fifth Third may incur significant training, licensing, maintenance, consulting and amortization expenses during and after systems implementations, and any such costs may continue for an extended period of time.
If Fifth Third is unable to grow its deposits, it may be subject to paying higher funding costs.
The total amount that Fifth Third pays for funding costs is dependent, in part, on Fifth Third’s ability to grow its deposits. If Fifth Third is unable to sufficiently grow its deposits to meet liquidity objectives, it may be subject to paying higher funding costs. Fifth Third competes with banks and other financial services companies for deposits. If competitors raise the rates they pay on deposits, Fifth Third’s funding costs may increase, either because Fifth Third raises rates to avoid losing deposits or because Fifth Third loses deposits and must rely on more expensive sources of funding. Higher funding costs reduce Fifth Third’s net interest margin and net interest income. Fifth Third’s bank customers could take their money out of the Bank and put it in alternative investments, causing Fifth Third to lose a lower cost source of funding. Checking and savings account balances and other forms of customer deposits may decrease when customers perceive alternative investments, such as the stock market, as providing a better risk/return tradeoff.
The Bancorp’s ability to receive dividends from its subsidiaries accounts for most of its revenue and could affect its liquidity and ability to pay dividends.
Fifth Third Bancorp is a separate and distinct legal entity from its subsidiaries. Fifth Third Bancorp typically receives substantially all of its revenue from dividends from its subsidiaries. These dividends are the principal source of funds to pay dividends on Fifth Third Bancorp’s stock and interest and principal on its debt. Various federal and/or state laws and regulations, as well as regulatory expectations, limit the amount of dividends that the Bancorp’s banking subsidiary and certain nonbank subsidiaries may pay. Regulatory scrutiny of capital levels at bank holding companies and insured depository institution subsidiaries has increased since the financial crisis and has resulted in increased regulatory focus on all aspects of capital planning, including dividends and other distributions to shareholders of banks such as the parent bank
holding companies. Also, Fifth Third Bancorp’s right to participate in a distribution of assets upon a subsidiary’s liquidation or reorganization is subject to the prior claims of that subsidiary’s creditors. Limitations on the Bancorp’s ability to receive dividends from its subsidiaries could have a material adverse effect on its liquidity and ability to pay dividends on stock or interest and principal on its debt. For further information refer to Note 3 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements.
The financial services industry is highly competitive and creates competitive pressures that could adversely affect Fifth Third’s revenue and profitability.
The financial services industry in which Fifth Third operates is highly competitive. Fifth Third competes not only with commercial banks, but also with insurance companies, mutual funds, hedge funds, telecommunications and technology and other companies offering financial services in the U.S., globally and over the internet. Fifth Third competes on the basis of several factors, including capital, access to capital, revenue generation, products, services, transaction execution, innovation, reputation and price. Over time, certain sectors of the financial services industry have become more concentrated, as institutions involved in a broad range of financial services have been acquired by or merged into other firms. These developments could result in Fifth Third’s competitors gaining greater capital and other resources, such as a broader range of products and services and geographic diversity. Fifth Third may experience pricing pressures as a result of these factors and as some of its competitors seek to increase market share by reducing prices.
Fifth Third and/or the holders of its securities could be adversely affected by unfavorable ratings from rating agencies.
Fifth Third’s ability to access the capital markets is important to its overall funding profile. This access is affected by the ratings assigned by rating agencies to Fifth Third, certain of its subsidiaries and particular classes of securities they issue. The interest rates that Fifth Third pays on its securities are also influenced by, among other things, the credit ratings that it, its subsidiaries and/or its securities receive from recognized rating agencies. A downgrade to Fifth Third or its subsidiaries’ credit rating could affect its ability to access the capital markets, increase its borrowing costs and negatively impact its profitability. A ratings downgrade to Fifth Third, its subsidiaries or their securities could also create obligations or liabilities of Fifth Third under the terms of its outstanding securities that could increase Fifth Third’s costs or otherwise have a negative effect on its results of operations or financial condition. Additionally, a downgrade of the credit rating of any particular security issued by Fifth Third or its subsidiaries could negatively affect the ability of the holders of that security to sell the securities and the prices at which any such securities may be sold.
Fifth Third could suffer if it fails to attract and retain skilled personnel.
Fifth Third’s success depends, in large part, on its ability to attract and retain key individuals. Competition for qualified candidates in the activities and markets that Fifth Third serves is intense, which may increase Fifth Third’s expenses and may result in Fifth Third not being able to hire candidates or retain them. If Fifth Third is not able to hire qualified candidates or retain its key personnel, Fifth Third may be unable to execute its business strategies and may suffer adverse consequences to its business, operations and financial condition.
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Compensation paid by financial institutions such as Fifth Third has become increasingly regulated, particularly under the DFA, which regulation affects the amount and form of compensation Fifth Third pays to hire and retain talented employees. If Fifth Third is unable to attract and retain qualified employees, or do so at rates necessary to maintain its competitive position, or if compensation costs required to attract and retain employees become more expensive, Fifth Third’s performance, including its competitive position, could be materially adversely affected.
Fifth Third’s mortgage banking revenue can be volatile from quarter to quarter.
Fifth Third earns revenue from the fees it receives for originating mortgage loans and for servicing mortgage loans. When rates rise, the demand for mortgage loans tends to fall, reducing the revenue Fifth Third receives from loan originations. At the same time, revenue from MSRs can increase through increases in fair value. When rates fall, mortgage originations tend to increase and the value of MSRs tends to decline, also with some offsetting revenue effect. Even though the origination of mortgage loans can act as a “natural hedge,” the hedge is not perfect, either in amount or timing. For example, the negative effect on revenue from a decrease in the fair value of residential MSRs is immediate, but any offsetting revenue benefit from more originations and the MSRs relating to the new loans would accrue over time. It is also possible that even if interest rates were to fall, mortgage originations may also fall or any increase in mortgage originations may not be enough to offset the decrease in the MSRs value caused by the lower rates.
Fifth Third typically uses derivatives and other instruments to hedge its mortgage banking interest rate risk. Fifth Third generally does not hedge all of its risks, and the fact that Fifth Third attempts to hedge any of the risks does not mean Fifth Third will be successful. Hedging is a complex process, requiring sophisticated models and constant monitoring. Fifth Third may use hedging instruments tied to U.S. Treasury rates, LIBOR or Eurodollars that may not perfectly correlate with the value or income being hedged. Fifth Third could incur significant losses from its hedging activities. There may be periods where Fifth Third elects not to use derivatives and other instruments to hedge mortgage banking interest rate risk.
Fifth Third uses models for business planning purposes that may not adequately predict future results.
Fifth Third uses financial models to aid in its planning for various purposes including its capital and liquidity needs and other purposes. The models used may not accurately account for all variables and may fail to predict outcomes accurately and/or may overstate or understate certain effects. As a result of these potential failures, Fifth Third may not adequately prepare for future events and may suffer losses or other setbacks due to these failures.
Also, information Fifth Third provides to the public or to its regulators based on models could be inaccurate or misleading due to inadequate design or implementation, for example. Decisions that its regulators make, including those related to capital distributions to its shareholders, could be affected adversely due to the perception that the models used to generate the relevant information are unreliable or inadequate.
Changes in interest rates could also reduce the value of MSRs.
Fifth Third acquires MSRs when it keeps the servicing rights after the sale or securitization of the loans that have been originated or when it purchases the servicing rights to mortgage loans originated by other lenders. Fifth Third initially measures all residential MSRs at fair value and subsequently amortizes the MSRs in proportion to, and over the period of, estimated net servicing income. Fair value is the present value of estimated future net servicing income, calculated based on a number of variables, including assumptions about the likelihood of prepayment by borrowers. Servicing rights are assessed for impairment monthly, based on fair value, with temporary impairment recognized through a valuation allowance and other-than-temporary impairment recognized through a write-off of the servicing asset and related valuation allowance.
Changes in interest rates can affect prepayment assumptions and thus fair value. When interest rates fall, borrowers are usually more likely to prepay their mortgage loans by refinancing them at a lower rate. As the likelihood of prepayment increases, the fair value of MSRs can decrease. Each quarter Fifth Third evaluates the fair value of MSRs, and decreases in fair value of MSRs below amortized cost reduce earnings in the period in which the decrease occurs.
The preparation of financial statements requires Fifth Third to make subjective determinations and use estimates that may vary from actual results and materially impact its results of operations or financial position.
The preparation of consolidated financial statements in conformity with U.S. GAAP requires management to make significant estimates that affect the financial statements. If new information arises that results in a material change to a reserve amount, such a change could result in a change to previously announced financial results. Refer to the Critical Accounting Policies section of MD&A for more information regarding management’s significant estimates.
Changes in accounting standards or interpretations could impact Fifth Third’s reported earnings and financial condition.
The accounting standard setters, including the FASB, the SEC and other regulatory agencies, periodically change the financial accounting and reporting standards that govern the preparation of Fifth Third’s consolidated financial statements. These changes can be hard to predict and can materially impact how Fifth Third records and reports its financial condition and results of operations. In some cases, Fifth Third could be required to apply a new or revised standard retroactively, which would result in the recasting of Fifth Third’s prior period financial statements.
Future acquisitions may dilute current shareholders’ ownership of Fifth Third and may cause Fifth Third to become more susceptible to adverse economic events.
Future business acquisitions could be material to Fifth Third and it may issue additional shares of stock to pay for those acquisitions, which would dilute current shareholders’ ownership interests. Acquisitions also could require Fifth Third to use substantial cash or other liquid assets or to incur debt. In those events, Fifth Third could become more susceptible to economic downturns and competitive pressures.
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Difficulties in identifying suitable opportunities or combining the operations of acquired entities or assets with Fifth Third’s own operations or assessing the effectiveness of businesses in which we make strategic investments or with which we enter into strategic contractual relationships may prevent Fifth Third from achieving the expected benefits from these acquisitions, investments or relationships.
Inherent uncertainties exist when assessing or integrating the operations of an acquired business or investment or relationship opportunity. Fifth Third may not be able to fully achieve its strategic objectives and planned operating efficiencies in an acquisition or strategic relationship. In addition, the markets and industries in which Fifth Third and its potential acquisition and investment targets operate are highly competitive. Acquisition or investment targets may lose customers or otherwise perform poorly or unprofitably, in the case of an acquired business or strategic relationship, cause Fifth Third to lose customers or perform poorly or unprofitably. Future acquisition and integration activities and efforts to monitor new investments or reap the benefits of a new strategic relationship may require Fifth Third to devote substantial time and resources and may cause these acquisitions, investments and relationships to be unprofitable or cause Fifth Third to be unable to pursue other business opportunities.
After completing an acquisition, Fifth Third may find certain items were not accounted for properly in accordance with financial accounting and reporting standards. Fifth Third may also not realize the expected benefits of the acquisition due to lower financial results pertaining to the acquired entity or assets. For example, Fifth Third could experience higher charge-offs than originally anticipated related to the acquired loan portfolio. Additionally, acquired companies or businesses may increase Fifth Third’s risk of regulatory action or restrictions related to the operations of the acquired business.
Fifth Third may sell or consider selling one or more of its businesses. Should it determine to sell such a business, it may not be able to generate gains on sale or related increase in shareholders’ equity commensurate with desirable levels. Moreover, if Fifth Third sold such businesses, the loss of income could have an adverse effect on its earnings and future growth.
Fifth Third owns, or owns a minority stake in, as applicable, several non-strategic businesses and other assets that are not significantly synergistic with its core financial services businesses or may no longer be aligned with Fifth Third’s strategic plans. Fifth Third has, from time to time, considered and undertaken (and, in the case of Vantiv, has announced its intention to continue) the sale of such businesses and/or interests, including, for example, portions of Fifth Third’s stake in Vantiv Holding, LLC. If it were to determine to sell such businesses and/or interests, Fifth Third would be subject to market forces that may make completion of a sale unsuccessful or may not be able to do so within a desirable time frame. If Fifth Third were to complete the sale of any of its businesses and/or interests in third parties, it would lose the income from the sold businesses and/or interests, including those accounted for under the equity method of accounting, and such loss of income could have an adverse effect on its future earnings and growth. Additionally, Fifth Third may encounter difficulties in separating the operations of any businesses it sells, which may affect its business or results of operations.
Fifth Third relies on its systems and certain third party service providers, and certain failures could materially adversely affect operations.
Fifth Third collects, processes and stores sensitive consumer data by utilizing computer systems and telecommunications networks operated by both Fifth Third and third party service providers. Fifth Third has security, backup and recovery systems in place, as well as a business continuity plan to ensure the systems will not be inoperable. Fifth Third also has security to prevent unauthorized access to the systems. In addition, Fifth Third requires its third party service providers to maintain similar controls. However, Fifth Third cannot be certain that the measures will be successful. A security breach in the systems and loss of confidential information such as credit card numbers and related information could result in significant reputational harm and the loss of customers’ confidence in Fifth Third. As a result, we may lose existing and new customers and incur significant costs, including privacy monitoring activities.
Fifth Third’s necessary dependence upon automated systems to record and process its transaction volume poses the risk that technical system flaws or employee errors, tampering or manipulation of those systems will result in losses and may be difficult to detect. Fifth Third may also be subject to disruptions of its operating systems arising from events that are beyond its control (for example, computer viruses or electrical or telecommunications outages).
Third parties with which the Bancorp does business, as well as retailers and other third parties with which the Bancorp’s customers do business, can also be sources of operational risk to the Bancorp, particularly where activities of customers are beyond the Bancorp’s security and control systems, such as through the use of the internet, personal computers, tablets, smart phones and other mobile services. Security breaches affecting the Bancorp’s customers, or systems breakdowns or failures, security breaches or employee misconduct affecting such other third parties, may require the Bancorp to take steps to protect the integrity of its own operational systems or to safeguard confidential information of the Bancorp or its customers, thereby increasing the Bancorp’s operational costs and potentially diminishing customer satisfaction. If personal, confidential or proprietary information of customers or clients in the Bancorp’s possession were to be mishandled or misused, the Bancorp could suffer significant regulatory consequences, reputational damage and financial loss. Such mishandling or misuse could include circumstances where, for example, such information was erroneously provided to parties who are not permitted to have the information, either through the fault of the Bancorp’s systems, employees or counterparties, or where such information was intercepted or otherwise compromised by third parties. The Bancorp may be subject to disruptions of its operating systems arising from events that are wholly or partially beyond the Bancorp’s control, which may include, for example, security breaches; electrical or telecommunications outages; failures of computer servers or other damage to the Bancorp’s property or assets; natural disasters or severe weather conditions; health emergencies; or events arising from local or larger-scale political events, including outbreaks of hostilities or terrorist acts. While the Bancorp believes that its current resiliency plans are both sufficient and adequate, there can be no assurance that such plans will fully mitigate all potential business continuity risks to the Bancorp or its customers and clients.
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Any failures or disruptions of the Bancorp’s systems or operations could give rise to losses in service to customers and clients, adversely affect the Bancorp’s business and results of operations by subjecting the Bancorp to losses or liability, or require the Bancorp to expend significant resources to correct the failure or disruption, as well as by exposing the Bancorp to reputational harm, litigation, regulatory fines or penalties or losses not covered by insurance.
Fifth Third is exposed to cyber-security risks, including denial of service, hacking, and identity theft, which could result in the disclosure, theft or destruction of confidential information.
Fifth Third relies heavily on communications and information systems to conduct its business. Any failure, interruption or breach in security of these systems could result in disruptions to its accounting, deposit, loan and other systems, and adversely affect its customer relationships. While Fifth Third has policies and procedures designed to prevent or limit the effect of these possible events, there can be no assurance that any such failure, interruption or security breach will not occur or, if any does occur, that it can be sufficiently remediated. There have been increasing efforts on the part of third parties, including through cyber-attacks, to breach data security at financial institutions or with respect to financial transactions. There have been several recent instances involving financial services and consumer-based companies reporting the unauthorized disclosure of client or customer information or the destruction or theft of corporate data, by both private individuals and foreign governments. In addition, because the techniques used to cause such security breaches change frequently, often are not recognized until launched against a target and may originate from less regulated and remote areas around the world, Fifth Third may be unable to proactively address these techniques or to implement adequate preventative measures. Furthermore, there has been a well-publicized series of apparently related distributed denial of service attacks on large financial services companies, including Fifth Third Bank, and “ransom” attacks where hackers have requested payments in exchange for not disclosing customer information. Distributed denial of service attacks are designed to saturate the targeted online network with excessive amounts of network traffic, resulting in slow response times, or in some cases, causing the site to be temporarily unavailable. These events adversely affected the performance of Fifth Third’s website and in some instances prevented customers from accessing Fifth Third’s website. Future cyber-attacks could be more disruptive and damaging. Cyber threats are rapidly evolving and Fifth Third may not be able to anticipate or prevent all such attacks. Fifth Third may incur increasing costs in an effort to minimize these risks or in the investigation of such cyber-attacks or related to the protection of the Bancorp’s customers from identity theft as a result of such attacks. Despite this effort, the occurrence of any failure, interruption or security breach of Fifth Third’s systems or third-party service providers, particularly if widespread or resulting in financial losses to customers, could also seriously damage Fifth Third’s reputation, result in a loss of customer business, subject it to additional regulatory scrutiny, or expose it to civil litigation and financial liability.
Fifth Third is exposed to operational and reputational risk.
Fifth Third is exposed to many types of operational risk, including but not limited to, business continuity risk, information management risk, fraud risk, model risk, third party service provider risk, human resources risk, and process risk.
Fifth Third’s actual or alleged conduct in activities, such as lending practices, data security, corporate governance and acquisitions, may result in negative public opinion and may damage Fifth Third’s reputation. Actions taken by government regulators and community
organizations may also damage Fifth Third’s reputation. Additionally, whereas negative public opinion once was primarily driven by adverse news coverage in traditional media, the advent and expansion of social media facilitates the rapid dissemination of information. Though Fifth Third monitors social media channels, the potential remains for rapid and widespread dissemination of inaccurate, misleading or false information that could damage Fifth Third’s reputation. Negative public opinion can adversely affect Fifth Third’s ability to attract and keep customers and can increase the risk that it will be a target of litigation and regulatory action.
Fifth Third’s framework for managing risks may not be effective in mitigating its risk and loss.
Fifth Third’s risk management framework seeks to mitigate risk and loss. Fifth Third has established processes and procedures intended to identify, measure, monitor, report, and analyze the types of risk to which it is subject, including liquidity risk, credit risk, market risk, interest rate risk, compliance risk, strategic risk, reputational risk, and operational risk related to its employees, systems and vendors, among others. Any system of control and any system to reduce risk exposure, however well designed and operated, is based in part on certain assumptions and can provide only reasonable, not absolute, assurances that the objectives of the system are met. A failure in Fifth Third’s internal controls could have a significant negative impact not only on its earnings, but also on the perception that customers, regulators and investors may have of Fifth Third. Fifth Third continues to devote a significant amount of effort, time and resources to improving its controls and ensuring compliance with complex regulations.
Additionally, instruments, systems and strategies used to hedge or otherwise manage exposure to various types of market compliance, credit, liquidity, operational and business risks and enterprise-wide risk could be less effective than anticipated. As a result, Fifth Third may not be able to effectively mitigate its risk exposures in particular market environments or against particular types of risk. If Fifth Third’s risk management framework proves ineffective, Fifth Third could incur litigation, negative regulatory consequences, reputational damages among other adverse consequences and Fifth Third could suffer unexpected losses that may affect its financial condition or results of operations.
The results of Vantiv Holding, LLC could have a negative impact on Fifth Third’s operating results and financial condition.
In 2009, Fifth Third sold an approximate 51% interest in its processing business, Vantiv Holding, LLC (formerly Fifth Third Processing Solutions). As a result of additional share sales completed by Fifth Third in 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016, the Bancorp ownership share in Vantiv Holding, LLC as of December 31, 2016, is approximately 18%. The Bancorp’s investment in Vantiv Holding, LLC is currently accounted for under the equity method of accounting and is not consolidated based on Fifth Third’s remaining ownership share in Vantiv Holding, LLC. Vantiv Holding, LLC’s operating results could be poor and could negatively affect the operating results of Fifth Third. In addition, Fifth Third participates in a multi-lender credit facility to Vantiv Holding, LLC and repayment of these loans is contingent on the future cash flows of Vantiv Holding, LLC, which are subject to their own risks and uncertainties.
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Changes in Fifth Third’s ownership in Vantiv Holding, LLC could have an impact on Fifth Third’s stock price, operating results, financial condition, and future outlook.
Fifth Third expects that it will reduce its equity investments in Vantiv Holding, LLC and its publicly traded parent, Vantiv, Inc., in whole or in part, but there can be no assurance that such sales will occur or as to when they will occur or the value that might be received by Fifth Third. A reduction in Fifth Third’s Vantiv ownership interest may result from a series of sale transactions similar to transactions in Vantiv securities engaged in by Fifth Third to date, or could occur as a result of one or more larger transactions, depending on strategic considerations, market conditions, or other factors deemed important by Fifth Third. Additionally, Fifth Third’s ownership in Vantiv could be affected by transactions that Vantiv may undertake. The nature, terms, and timing of transactions engaged in by Vantiv may not be entirely within Fifth Third’s control, if at all. If and when Fifth Third’s ownership in Vantiv is reduced, such changes in ownership could have a material impact, positive or negative, on Fifth Third’s stock price, operating results, financial condition and future outlook.
Weather related events or other natural disasters may have an effect on the performance of Fifth Third’s loan portfolios, especially in its coastal markets, thereby adversely impacting its results of operations.
Fifth Third’s footprint stretches from the upper Midwestern to lower Southeastern regions of the United States. These regions have experienced weather events including hurricanes and other natural disasters. The nature and level of these events and the impact of global climate change upon their frequency and severity cannot be predicted. If large scale events occur, they may significantly impact its loan portfolios by damaging properties pledged as collateral as well as impairing its borrowers’ ability to repay their loans.
RISKS RELATED TO THE LEGAL AND REGULATORY ENVIRONMENT
As a regulated entity, the Bancorp is subject to certain capital requirements that may limit its operations and potential growth.
The Bancorp is a bank holding company and a financial holding company. As such, it is subject to the comprehensive, consolidated supervision and regulation of the FRB, including risk-based and leverage capital requirements, investment practices, dividend policy and growth. The Bancorp must maintain certain risk-based and leverage capital ratios as required by the FRB which can change depending upon general economic conditions and the Bancorp’s particular condition, risk profile and growth plans. Compliance with the capital requirements, including leverage ratios, may limit operations that require the intensive use of capital and could adversely affect the Bancorp’s ability to expand or maintain present business levels.
U.S. federal banking agencies’ capital rules implementing Basel III became effective for the Bancorp on January 1, 2015, subject to phase-in periods for certain components and other provisions. The need to maintain more and higher quality capital as well as greater liquidity could limit Fifth Third’s business activities, including lending, and the ability to expand, either organically or through acquisitions. Moreover, although the capital requirements are being phased in over time, U.S. federal banking agencies take into account expectations regarding the ability of banks to meet the capital requirements, including under stressed conditions, in approving actions that represent uses of capital, such as dividend increases and share repurchases.
Failure by the Bancorp’s banking subsidiary to meet applicable capital requirements could subject the Bank to a variety of enforcement remedies available to the federal regulatory authorities. These include limitations on the ability to pay dividends, the issuance by the regulatory authority of a capital directive to increase capital, and the termination of deposit insurance by the FDIC.
Fifth Third’s business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected by new or changed regulations and by the manner in which such regulations are applied by regulatory authorities.
Previous economic conditions, particularly in the financial markets, have resulted in government regulatory agencies placing increased focus and scrutiny on the financial services industry. The U.S. government has intervened on an unprecedented scale, responding to what has been commonly referred to as the financial crisis, by introducing various actions and passing legislation such as the DFA. Such programs and legislation subject Fifth Third and other financial institutions to restrictions, oversight and/or costs that may have an impact on Fifth Third’s business, financial condition, results of operations or the price of its common stock.
Although there is uncertainty regarding whether the programs implemented and the legislation passed following the financial crisis will remain in place or be modified or repealed under the new administration in the U.S., any new proposals for legislation and regulations introduced could further substantially increase compliance costs in the financial services industry. In addition, changes to laws and regulations could have a negatively impact in the short term even if the longer-term impact of those changes may be expected to be positive for Fifth Third. Fifth Third cannot predict whether any pending or future legislation will be adopted or the substance and impact of any such new legislation on Fifth Third. Changes in regulation could affect Fifth Third in a substantial way and could have an adverse effect on its business, financial condition and results of operations.
Fifth Third is subject to various regulatory requirements that may limit its operations and potential growth.
Under federal and state laws and regulations pertaining to the safety and soundness of insured depository institutions and their holding companies, the FRB, the FDIC, the CFPB and the Ohio Division of Financial Institutions have the authority to compel or restrict certain actions by Fifth Third and its banking subsidiary, Fifth Third Bank. Fifth Third and its banking subsidiary are subject to such supervisory authority and, more generally, must, in certain instances, obtain prior regulatory approval before engaging in certain activities or corporate decisions. There can be no assurance that such approvals, if required, would be forthcoming or that such approvals would be granted in a timely manner. Failure to receive any such approval, if required, could limit or impair Fifth Third’s operations, restrict its growth and/or affect its dividend policy. Such actions and activities subject to prior approval include, but are not limited to, increasing dividends paid by Fifth Third or its banking subsidiary, entering into a merger or acquisition transaction, acquiring or establishing new branches, and entering into certain new businesses.
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The Bancorp is a bank holding company and a financial holding company. Failure by the Bancorp or Fifth Third Bank to meet the applicable eligibility requirements for financial holding company status (including capital and management requirements and that Fifth Third Bank maintain at least a “Satisfactory” CRA rating) may result in restrictions on certain activities of the Bancorp, including the commencement of new activities and mergers with or acquisitions of other financial institutions, and could ultimately result in the loss of financial holding company status.
In the wake of the most recent global financial crisis, Fifth Third and other financial institutions more generally have been subjected to increased scrutiny from government authorities, including bank regulatory authorities, stemming from broader systemic regulatory concerns, including with respect to stress testing, capital levels, asset quality, provisioning, AML/BSA, consumer compliance and other prudential matters and efforts to ensure that financial institutions take steps to improve their risk management and prevent future crises.
In this regard, government authorities, including the bank regulatory agencies, are also pursuing aggressive enforcement actions with respect to compliance and other legal matters involving financial activities, which heightens the risks associated with actual and perceived compliance failures and may also adversely affect Fifth Third’s ability to enter into certain transactions or engage in certain activities, or obtain necessary regulatory approvals in connection therewith.
In some cases, regulatory agencies may take supervisory actions that may not be publicly disclosed, which restrict or limit a financial institution. Finally, as part of Fifth Third’s regular examination process, Fifth Third’s and its banking subsidiary’s respective regulators may advise it and its banking subsidiary to operate under various restrictions as a prudential matter. Such supervisory actions or restrictions, if and in whatever manner imposed, could negatively affect Fifth Third’s ability to engage in new activities and certain transactions, as well as have a material adverse effect on Fifth Third’s business and results of operations and may not be publicly disclosed.
In July 2016, the FRB announced that Fifth Third Bank received a rating of “Needs to Improve” on its CRA examination for the period covering 2011-2013 following its periodic examination to determine Fifth Third Bank’s compliance with the CRA from 2011 through 2013. While Fifth Third Bank’s CRA rating is “Needs to Improve” the Bancorp and Fifth Third Bank face limitations and conditions on certain activities (including the commencement of new activities and merger with or acquisitions of other financial institutions) and the potential loss of financial holding company status. As a result of these limitations and conditions, Fifth Third may be unable or may fail to pursue, evaluate or complete transactions that might have been strategically or competitively significant. The Bank’s next CRA examination commenced during the fourth quarter of 2016.
Fifth Third and/or its affiliates are or may become involved from time to time in information-gathering requests, investigations and proceedings by various governmental regulatory agencies and law enforcement authorities, as well as self-regulatory agencies which may lead to adverse consequences.
Fifth Third and/or its affiliates are or may become involved from time to time in information-gathering requests, reviews, investigations and proceedings (both formal and informal) by governmental regulatory agencies and law enforcement authorities, as well as self-regulatory agencies, regarding their respective customers and businesses. In addition, the complexity of the federal and state
regulatory and enforcement regimes in the U.S. means that a single event or topic may give rise to numerous and overlapping investigations and regulatory proceedings. Such matters may result in material adverse consequences, including without limitation, adverse judgments, settlements, fines, penalties, injunctions or other actions, amendments and/or restatements of Fifth Third’s SEC filings and/or financial statements, as applicable, and/or determinations of material weaknesses in its disclosure controls and procedures.
There has been a trend of large settlements with governmental agencies that may adversely affect the outcomes for other financial institutions, to the extent they are used as a template for other settlements in the future. The uncertain regulatory enforcement environment makes it difficult to estimate probable losses, which can lead to substantial disparities between legal reserves and actual settlements or penalties.
Deposit insurance premiums levied against Fifth Third Bank may increase if the number of bank failures increase or the cost of resolving failed banks increases.
The FDIC maintains a DIF to protect insured depositors in the event of bank failures. The DIF is funded by fees assessed on insured depository institutions including Fifth Third Bank. Future deposit premiums paid by Fifth Third Bank depend on FDIC rules, which are subject to change, the level of the DIF and the magnitude and cost of future bank failures. Fifth Third Bank may be required to pay significantly higher FDIC premiums if market developments change such that the DIF balance is reduced or the FDIC changes its rules to require higher premiums.
Fifth Third is subject to extensive governmental regulation which could adversely impact Fifth Third or the businesses in which Fifth Third is engaged.
Fifth Third is subject to extensive state and federal regulation, supervision and legislation that govern almost all aspects of its operations and limit the businesses in which Fifth Third may engage. These laws and regulations may change from time to time and are primarily intended for the protection of consumers and depositors and are not designed to protect security-holders. The impact of any changes to laws and regulations or other actions by regulatory agencies may negatively impact Fifth Third or its ability to increase the value of its business. Additionally, actions by regulatory agencies or significant litigation against Fifth Third could cause it to devote significant time and resources to defending itself and may lead to penalties that materially affect Fifth Third and its shareholders. Future changes in the laws, including tax laws, or regulations or their interpretations or enforcement may also be materially adverse to Fifth Third and its shareholders or may require Fifth Third to expend significant time and resources to comply with such requirements.
The DFA, enacted in 2010, is complex and broad in scope and several of its provisions are still being implemented. The DFA established the CFPB which has authority to regulate consumer financial products and services sold by banks and non-bank companies and to supervise banks with assets of more than $10 billion and their affiliates for compliance with Federal consumer protection laws. Since its formation, the CFPB has finalized a number of significant rules that could have a significant impact on Fifth Third’s business and the financial services industry more generally including integrated mortgage disclosures under the Truth in Lending Act and the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act.
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Compliance with the rules and policies adopted by the CFPB may limit the products Fifth Third may permissibly offer to customers, or limit the terms on which those products may be issued, or may adversely affect Fifth Third’s ability to conduct its business as previously conducted. Fifth Third may also be required to add additional compliance personnel or incur other significant compliance-related expenses. Fifth Third’s business, results of operations or competitive position may be adversely affected as a result.
The reforms, both under the DFA and otherwise, are having a significant effect on the entire financial industry. Fifth Third believes compliance with the DFA and implementing its regulations and other initiatives will likely continue to negatively impact revenue and increase the cost of doing business, both in terms of transition expenses and on an ongoing basis, and may also limit Fifth Third’s ability to pursue certain desirable business opportunities. Any new regulatory requirements or changes to existing requirements could require changes to Fifth Third’s businesses, result in increased compliance costs and affect the profitability of such businesses. Additionally, reform could affect the behaviors of third parties that Fifth Third deals with in the course of business, such as rating agencies, insurance companies and investors. The extent to which Fifth Third can adjust its strategies to offset such adverse impacts also is not known at this time.
We may become subject to more stringent regulatory requirements and activity restrictions if the FRB and FDIC determine that Fifth Third’s resolution plan is not credible.
The DFA and implementing regulations jointly issued by the FRB and FDIC require bank holding companies with more than $50 billion in assets to annually submit a resolution plan to the FRB and the FDIC that, in the event of material financial distress or failure, establish the rapid, orderly resolution under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. If the FRB and the FDIC jointly determine that Fifth Third’s resolution plan is not “credible,” Fifth Third could become subjected to more stringent capital, leverage or liquidity requirements or restrictions, or restrictions on Fifth Third’s growth, activities or operations, and could eventually be required to divest certain assets or operations in ways that could negatively impact its operations and strategy.
Conforming Covered Activities to the Volcker Rule may require the expenditure of resources and management attention and result in forced sales of assets.
Among other restricted activities, the DFA “Volcker Rule” generally restricts banks and their affiliates from sponsoring or retaining an interest in certain private equity and hedge funds. A forced sale of some or all (“Legacy Covered Funds”) could result in Fifth Third receiving less value than it would otherwise have received.
If an orderly liquidation of a systemically important bank holding company or non-bank financial company were triggered, Fifth Third could face assessments for the Orderly Liquidation Fund.
The DFA created authority for the orderly liquidation of systemically important bank holding companies and non-bank financial companies and is based on the FDIC’s bank resolution model. The Secretary of the U.S. Treasury may trigger liquidation under this authority only after consultation with the President of the United States and after receiving a recommendation from the
boards of the FDIC and the Federal Reserve upon a two-thirds vote. Liquidation proceedings will be funded by the Orderly Liquidation Fund established under the DFA, which will borrow from the U.S. Treasury and impose risk-based assessments on covered financial companies. Risk-based assessments would be made, first, on entities that received more in the resolution than they would have received in the liquidation to the extent of such excess, and second, if necessary, on, among others, bank holding companies with total consolidated assets of $50 billion or more, such as Fifth Third. Any such assessments may adversely affect Fifth Third’s business, financial condition or results of operations.
Regulation of Fifth Third by the CFTC imposes additional operational and compliance costs.
Title VII of DFA imposes a new regulatory regime on the U.S. derivatives markets. While most of the provisions related to derivatives markets are now in effect, several additional requirements await final regulations from the relevant regulatory agencies for derivatives, the CFTC and the SEC. One aspect of this new regulatory regime for derivatives is that substantial oversight responsibility has been provided to the CFTC, which, as a result, now has a meaningful supervisory role with respect to some of Fifth Third’s businesses. In 2014, Fifth Third Bank provisionally registered as a swap dealer with the CFTC and became subject to new substantive requirements, including real time trade reporting and robust record keeping requirements, business conduct requirements (including daily valuations, disclosure of material risks associated with swaps and disclosure of material incentives and conflicts of interest), and mandatory clearing and exchange trading of all standardized swaps designated by the relevant regulatory agencies as required to be cleared. Although the ultimate impact will depend on the promulgation of all final regulations, Fifth Third‘s derivatives activity will be subject to FRB margin requirements and may also be subject to capital requirements specific to this derivatives activity. These requirements will collectively impose implementation and ongoing compliance burdens on Fifth Third and will introduce additional legal risk (including as a result of newly applicable antifraud and anti-manipulation provisions and private rights of action). Once finalized, the rules may raise the costs and liquidity burden associated with Fifth Third’s derivatives activities and could have an adverse effect on its business, financial condition and results of operations.
Fifth Third and/or its affiliates are or may become the subject of litigation or regulatory or other enforcement proceedings that could result in substantial legal liability and damage to Fifth Third’s reputation.
Fifth Third and certain of its directors and officers have been named from time to time as defendants in various class actions and other litigation relating to Fifth Third’s business and activities. Past, present and future litigation have included or could include claims for substantial compensatory and/or punitive damages or claims for indeterminate amounts of damages. Enforcement authorities may seek admissions of wrongdoing and, in some cases, criminal pleas as part of the resolutions of matters, and any such resolution of a matter involving Fifth Third which could lead to increased exposure to private litigation, could adversely affect Fifth Third’s reputation, and could result in limitations on Fifth Third’s ability to do business in certain jurisdictions. Legal, regulatory and other enforcement proceedings could also result in
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material adverse judgments, settlements, fines, penalties, injunctions or other relief, amendments and/or restatements of Fifth Third’s SEC filings and/or financial statements, as applicable and/or determinations of material weaknesses in its disclosure controls and procedures. In addition, responding to inquiries, investigations, lawsuits and proceedings, regardless of the ultimate outcome of the matter, could be time-consuming and expensive. Like other large financial institutions and companies, Fifth Third is also subject to risk from potential employee misconduct, including non-compliance with policies and improper use or disclosure of confidential information. Substantial legal liability or significant regulatory or other enforcement action against Fifth Third could materially adversely affect its business, financial condition or results of operations and/or cause significant reputational harm to its business. The outcome of lawsuits and regulatory proceedings may be difficult to predict or estimate. Although Fifth Third establishes accruals for legal proceedings when information related to the loss contingencies represented by those matters indicates both that a loss is probable and that the amount of loss can be reasonably estimated, Fifth Third does not have accruals for all legal proceedings where it faces a risk of loss. In addition, due to the inherent subjectivity of the assessments and unpredictability of the outcome of legal proceedings, amounts accrued may not represent the ultimate loss to Fifth Third from the legal proceedings in question. Thus, Fifth Third’s ultimate losses may be higher, and possibly significantly so, than the amounts accrued for legal loss contingencies, which could adversely affect Fifth Third’s results of operations. Please see “Legal and Regulatory Proceedings” in Fifth Third’s Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for information on specific legal and regulatory proceedings.
Fifth Third’s ability to pay or increase dividends on its common stock or to repurchase its capital stock is restricted.
Fifth Third’s ability to pay dividends or repurchase stock is subject to regulatory requirements and the need to meet regulatory expectations. As part of CCAR, Fifth Third’s capital plan is subject to an annual assessment by the FRB, and the FRB may object to Fifth Third’s capital plan if Fifth Third does not demonstrate an ability to maintain capital above the minimum regulatory capital ratios under baseline and stressful conditions throughout a nine-quarter planning horizon. If the FRB objects to Fifth Third’s capital plan, Fifth Third would be subject to limitations on its ability to make capital distributions (including paying dividends and repurchasing stock).
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ITEM 2.
ITEM 2. PROPERTIES
The Bancorp’s executive offices and the main office of Fifth Third Bank are located on Fountain Square Plaza in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio in a 32-story office tower, a five-story office building with an attached parking garage and a separate ten-story office building known as the Fifth Third Center, the William S. Rowe Building and the 530 Building, respectively. The Bancorp’s main operations campus is located in Cincinnati, Ohio, and is comprised of a three-story building with an attached parking garage known as the George A. Schaefer, Jr. Operations Center, and a two-story building with surface parking known as the Madisonville Office Building. The Bank owns 100% of these buildings.
At December 31, 2016, the Bancorp, through its banking and non-banking subsidiaries, operated 1,191 banking centers, of which 859 were owned, 229 were leased and 103 for which the buildings are owned but the land is leased. The banking centers are located in the states of Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Florida, Tennessee, North Carolina, West Virginia, and Georgia. The Bancorp’s significant owned properties are owned free from mortgages and major encumbrances.
EXECUTIVE OFFICERS OF THE BANCORP
Officers are appointed annually by the Board of Directors at the meeting of Directors immediately following the Annual Meeting of Shareholders. The names, ages and positions of the Executive Officers of the Bancorp as of February 24, are listed below along with their business experience during the past five years:
Greg D. Carmichael, 55. Chief Executive Officer of the Bancorp since November 2015 and President since September 2012. Previously, Mr. Carmichael was Chief Operating Officer of the Bancorp from June 2006 to August 2015, Executive Vice President of the Bancorp from June 2006 to September 2012 and Chief Information Officer of the Bancorp from June 2003 to June 2006.
Lars C. Anderson, 55. Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the Bancorp since August 2015. Previously, Mr. Anderson was Vice Chairman of Comerica Incorporated and Comerica Bank since December 2010.
Chad M. Borton, 46. Executive Vice President of the Bancorp since April 2014. Previously, Mr. Borton was Head of Retail Banking for Fifth Third Bank from July 2012 to April 2014. Prior to that, Mr. Borton served in multiple positions at JP Morgan Chase including the Head of Branch Administration from August 2011 to July 2012; Senior Vice President and Market Manager from August 2010 to August 2011; Head of Retail Distribution from 2008 to 2010 and Consumer Bank Chief Financial Officer from 2006 to 2008.
Frank R. Forrest, 62. Executive Vice President and Chief Risk Officer of the Bancorp since April 2014. Previously, Mr. Forrest was Executive Vice President and Chief Risk and Credit Officer of the Bancorp since September 2013. Prior to that, Mr. Forrest served with Bank of America Merrill Lynch. From March 2012 until June 2013, Mr. Forrest served as Managing Director and Quality Control Executive for Legacy Asset Services, a division of Bank of America. From September 2008 until March 2012, Mr. Forrest was Managing Director and Global Debt Products Executive for Global Corporate and Investment Banking. Formerly from January 2007 to September 2008, Mr. Forrest was Risk Management Executive for Commercial Banking.
Mark D. Hazel, 51. Senior Vice President and Controller of the Bancorp since February 2010. Prior to that, Mr. Hazel was the Assistant Bancorp Controller since 2006 and was the Controller of Nonbank entities since 2003.
Aravind Immaneni, 46. Executive Vice President and Chief Operations and Technology Officer since November 14, 2016. Previously Mr. Immaneni worked for TD Bank as Executive Vice President and Head of Retail Distribution Strategy & Operations since November 2014, Senior Vice President and Head of Retail Bank Operations from August 2013 to November 2014, and Senior Vice President and Head of Deposit & Debit Operations from February 2011 to August 2013.
James C. Leonard, 47. Executive Vice President since September 2015 and Treasurer of the Bancorp since October 2013. Previously, Mr. Leonard was Senior Vice President from October 2013 to September 2015, the Director of Business Planning and Analysis from 2006 to 2013 and the Chief Financial Officer of the Commercial Banking Division from 2001 to 2006.
Philip R. McHugh, 52. Executive Vice President of the Bancorp since December 2014. Previously, Mr. McHugh was Executive Vice President of Fifth Third Bank since June 2011 and was Senior Vice President of Fifth Third Bank from June 2010 through June 2011. Prior to that, Mr. McHugh was the President and CEO of the Louisville Affiliate of Fifth Third Bank from January 2005 through June 2010.
Jelena McWilliams, 43. Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary since January 9, 2017. Previously Ms. McWilliams was Chief Counsel since January 2015 and Deputy Staff Director since July 2016 of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs. Previously she was Senior Counsel to the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs from July 2012 to December 2015. Prior to that, she served as Assistant Chief Counsel to the U.S. Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee and before that as an attorney at the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. Prior to government service, she practiced as an attorney with Morrison & Foerster LLP in Palo Alto, California and then with Hogan & Hartson LLP (now Hogan Lovells LLP) in Washington, D.C.
Timothy N. Spence, 38. Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer of the Bancorp since September 2015. Previously, Mr. Spence was a senior partner in the Financial Services practice at Oliver Wyman since 2006, a global strategy and risk management consulting firm.
Teresa J. Tanner, 48. Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer since September 2015. Previously, Ms. Tanner was the Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer of the Bancorp since February 2010 and Senior Vice President and Director of Enterprise Learning since September 2008. Prior to that, she was Human Resources Senior Vice President and Senior Business Partner for the Information Technology and Central Operations divisions since July 2006. Previously, she was Vice President and Senior Business Partner for Operations since September 2004.
Tayfun Tuzun, 52. Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of the Bancorp since October 2013. Previously, Mr. Tuzun was the Senior Vice President and Treasurer of the Bancorp from December 2011 to October 2013. Prior to that, Mr. Tuzun was the Assistant Treasurer and Balance Sheet Manager of Fifth Third Bancorp. Previously, Mr. Tuzun was the Structured Finance Manager since 2007.
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PART II
ITEM 5.
ITEM 5. MARKET FOR REGISTRANT’S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES
The Bancorp’s common stock is traded in the over-the-counter market and is listed under the symbol “FITB” on the NASDAQ® Global Select Market System.
See a discussion of dividend limitations that the subsidiaries can pay to the Bancorp discussed in Note 3 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements. Additionally, as of December 31, 2016, the Bancorp had 42,892 shareholders of record.
(a) The Bancorp repurchased 120,199, 369,410 and 121,915 shares during October, November and December of 2016, respectively, in connection with various employee compensation plans of the Bancorp. These purchases do not count against the maximum number of shares that may yet be purchased under the Board of Directors’ authorization.
(b) In March 2016, the Bancorp announced that its Board of Directors had authorized management to purchase 100 million shares of the Bancorp’s common stock through the open market or in any private transaction. The authorization does not include specific price targets or an expiration date. This share repurchase authorization replaces the Board’s previous authorization pursuant to which approximately 14 million shares remained available for repurchase by the Bancorp.
See further discussion on accelerated share repurchase transactions and stock-based compensation in Note 23 and Note 24 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements.
203 Fifth Third Bancorp
The following performance graphs do not constitute soliciting material and should not be deemed filed or incorporated by reference into any other Company filing under the Securities Act of 1933 or the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, except to the extent the Bancorp specifically incorporates the performance graphs by reference therein.
Total Return Analysis
The graphs below summarize the cumulative return experienced by the Bancorp’s shareholders over the years 2011 through 2016, and 2006 through 2016, respectively, compared to the S&P 500 Stock and the S&P Banks indices.
FIFTH THIRD BANCORP VS. MARKET INDICES
Shares Issued Under Certain Employee Benefit Plans
As previously disclosed, during the fourth quarter of 2016, the Bancorp determined that a number of shares of Fifth Third Bancorp common stock offered under our 401(k) Plan were previously inadvertently omitted from inclusion in the corresponding S-8 registration statement. As a result, approximately 207,444 unregistered shares were sold through the 401(k) Plan during the fourth quarter of 2016.
The Bancorp filed the required Form S-8 for the 401(k) Plan on November 10, 2016 and plans to make a voluntary rescission offer to eligible plan participants in order to remediate the registration defect during the first half of 2017. The Bancorp also plans to make rescission offers to participants of other plans as well for previously disclosed registration and prospectus delivery failures. Based on the market price of Fifth Third Bancorp’s common stock in February 2017, the Bancorp does not expect that the exercise of any applicable rescission rights will have a material impact on its results of operations, financial condition, or liquidity.
204 Fifth Third Bancorp
PART III ITEM 10.
ITEM 11. EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION
The information required by this item is incorporated herein by reference under the captions “COMPENSATION DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS,” “COMPENSATION OF NAMED EXECUTIVE OFFICERS AND DIRECTORS,” “COMPENSATION COMMITTEE REPORT” and “COMPENSATION COMMITTEE INTERLOCKS AND INSIDER PARTICIPATION” of the Bancorp’s Proxy Statement for the 2017 Annual Meeting of Shareholders.
ITEM 12.
ITEM 12. SECURITY OWNERSHIP OF CERTAIN BENEFICIAL OWNERS AND MANAGEMENT AND RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS
Security ownership information of certain beneficial owners and management is incorporated herein by reference under the captions “CERTAIN BENEFICIAL OWNERS,” “ELECTION OF DIRECTORS,” “COMPENSATION DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS” and “COMPENSATION OF NAMED EXECUTIVE OFFICERS AND DIRECTORS” of the Bancorp’s Proxy Statement for the 2017 Annual Meeting of Shareholders.
The information required by this item concerning Equity Compensation Plan information is included in Note 24 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements.
ITEM 13.
ITEM 13. CERTAIN RELATIONSHIPS AND RELATED TRANSACTIONS, AND DIRECTOR INDEPENDENCE
The information required by this item is incorporated herein by reference under the captions “CERTAIN TRANSACTIONS”, “ELECTION OF DIRECTORS”, “CORPORATE GOVERNANCE” and “BOARD OF DIRECTORS, ITS COMMITTEES, MEETINGS AND FUNCTIONS” of the Bancorp’s Proxy Statement for the 2017 Annual Meeting of Shareholders.
ITEM 14.
ITEM 14. PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTING FEES AND SERVICES
The information required by this item is incorporated herein by reference under the caption “PRINCIPAL INDEPENDENT
EXTERNAL AUDIT FIRM FEES” of the Bancorp’s Proxy Statement for the 2017 Annual Meeting of Shareholders.
PART IV ITEM 15.