NEW YORK, April 07, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pomerantz LLP announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed against Fifth Third Bancorp. (“Fifth Third” or the “Company”) (NASDAQ: FITB) and certain of its officers.   The class action, filed in United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, and indexed under 20-cv-02176, is on behalf of a class consisting of all persons and entities other than Defendants who purchased or otherwise acquired Fifth Third securities between February 26, 2016, and March 6, 2020, both dates inclusive (the “Class Period”), seeking to recover damages caused by Defendants’ violations of the federal securities laws and to pursue remedies under Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Exchange Act”) and Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder, against the Company and certain of its top officials.

If you are a shareholder who purchased Fifth Third securities during the class period, you have until June 8, 2020, to ask the Court to appoint you as Lead Plaintiff for the class.  A copy of the Complaint can be obtained at www.pomerantzlaw.com. To discuss this action, contact Robert S. Willoughby at rswilloughby@pomlaw.com or 888.476.6529 (or 888.4-POMLAW), toll-free, Ext. 7980. Those who inquire by e-mail are encouraged to include their mailing address, telephone number, and the number of shares purchased. 

[Click here for information about joining the class action]

Fifth Third was founded in 1858 and is headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio.  The Company operates as a diversified financial services company in the U.S.  As of June 30, 2019, the Company operated 1,207 full-service banking centers and 2,551 ATMs in Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Florida, Tennessee, West Virginia, Georgia, and North Carolina.

The Complaint alleges that throughout the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and misleading statements regarding the Company’s business, operational and compliance policies.  Specifically, Defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (i) as a result of Fifth Third Bank’s aggressive incentive policies to promote its cross-sell strategy, Fifth Third Bank employees engaged in unauthorized conduct with customer accounts; (ii) since at least 2008, Fifth Third Bank, and by extension, Fifth Third, was aware of such unauthorized conduct and, thus, that it was violating relevant regulations and laws aimed at protecting its consumers; (iii) Fifth Third failed to properly implement and monitor its cross-sell program, detect and stop misconduct, and identify and remediate harmed consumers; (iv) all the foregoing subjected the Company to a foreseeable risk of heightened regulatory scrutiny or investigation; (v) Fifth Third’s revenues were in part the product of unlawful conduct and thus unsustainable; and (vi) as a result, the Company’s public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.

On March 2, 2020, Fifth Third filed an Annual Report on Form 10-K with the SEC, reporting the Company’s financial and operating results for the quarter and year ended December 31, 2019 (the “2019 10-K”).  According to the 2019 10-K, U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) staff “notified Fifth Third that it intends to file an enforcement action in relation to alleged unauthorized account openings.”

As the market digested this information, Fifth Third’s stock price fell $0.72 per share, or 2.95%, over the following trading sessions to close at $23.68 per share on March 5, 2020.  However, the true scope of the Company’s alleged wrongdoing, and potential liability with respect to unauthorized account openings, was left undisclosed in the 2019 10-K, and was actively downplayed by the Company, thereby causing the Company’s stock price to continue to trade at artificially inflated prices throughout the remainder of the Class Period.

Finally, on March 9, 2020, the CFPB announced that it had filed a lawsuit against Fifth Third Bank in federal court, disclosing significant additional information concerning its investigation into the Company that the Company had previously failed to disclose.  Specifically, the CFPB “allege[d] that for several years,” and until at least 2016, “Fifth Third [Bank], without consumers’ knowledge or consent: opened deposit and credit-card accounts in consumers’ names; transferred funds from consumers’ existing accounts to new, improperly opened accounts; enrolled consumers in unauthorized online-banking services; and activated unauthorized lines of credit on consumers’ accounts.”  The CFPB further alleged that, “despite knowing since at least 2008 that employees were opening unauthorized consumer-financial accounts, Fifth Third [Bank] took insufficient steps to detect and stop the conduct and to identify and remediate harmed consumers.”  Consequently, the CFPB concluded that Fifth Third Bank “violated the Consumer Financial Protection Act’s prohibition against unfair and abusive acts or practices as well as the Truth in Lending Act and the Truth in Savings Act and their implementing regulations.” 

On this news, Fifth Third’s stock price fell $0.64 per share, or approximately 3.5%, to close at $17.66 per share on March 11, 2020, and fell an additional $1.76 per share the following trading day to close at $15.90 per share on March 12, 2020—a total decline of 13.11%.

The Pomerantz Firm, with offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Paris, is acknowledged as one of the premier firms in the areas of corporate, securities, and antitrust class litigation. Founded by the late Abraham L. Pomerantz, known as the dean of the class action bar, the Pomerantz Firm pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 80 years later, the Pomerantz Firm continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered numerous multimillion-dollar damages awards on behalf of class members. See www.pomerantzlaw.com

CONTACT:
Robert S. Willoughby
Pomerantz LLP
rswilloughby@pomlaw.com