FITB News & Events

Fifth Third Bancorp announced closing of a transaction to acquire Mechanics Bank's Delegated Underwriting and Servicing business line, including an experienced lending team, and a $1.8 billion unpaid principal balance servicing portfolio. Fifth Third joins a group of just 24 lenders nationwide authorized by Fannie Mae to originate, underwrite, close, and service multifamily loans. Fifth Third is currently the ninth-largest U.S. bank, with approximately $297 billion in assets. Multifamily housing is the largest component of its commercial real estate portfolio.

Mechanics Bancorp completed the previously announced sale of its Fannie Mae Delegated Underwriting and Servicing business line to Fifth Third Bank, National Association for aggregate cash consideration of approximately $126 million. Under the terms of the completed transaction, Fifth Third Bank acquired Mechanics Bank's approximately $1.8 billion DUS servicing portfolio, including associated escrow amounts, and hired Mechanics Bank employees who operate the DUS Business.

FIS (FIS) announced Project Keystone - a network for digital money to be designed and controlled by banks. Developed with six U.S. financial institutions, Project Keystone will enable participating banks to issue, transfer, and settle regulated deposits in digital form, on shared infrastructure they administer themselves. Participating banks include Citizens (CFG), Fifth Third (FITB), Huntington Bank (HBAN), KeyBank (KEY), and M&T Bank (MTB). This group represents different charter types and technology providers, reflecting the breadth of institutions for which Project Keystone is designed to operate. The network will handle real bank deposits in digital form - meaning the money moving through Project Keystone will be regulated and bank-issued - not a new asset class. Transactions will either settle completely or not settle at all, eliminating the partial failures and reconciliation burdens that slow conventional interbank settlement today.