Fifth Third Facing Penalties over Accounting for Loan Losses

Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB) in Cincinnati named a new chief financial officer in connection with a tentative agreement to settle a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into its accounting for commercial real estate loans in 2008, according to a Tuesday press release.

The settlement would require Fifth Third to consent to an administrative order; a cease-and-desist order and civil money penalty related to charges that it did not accurately account for a portion of its commercial real estate loan portfolio in the third quarter of 2008, according to the release. The proposed amount of the civil money penalty was not disclosed. The $126 billion-asset company would not admit any wrongdoing in the settlement.

Fifth Third reshuffled management in connection with the proposed settlement. Daniel Poston, who served as the company's interim CFO during the relevant period in 2008 and became CFO in 2009, has been named chief strategy and administrative officer. Poston is currently in separate settlement discussions over related charges with the SEC, according to the release. The agreement would include a cease-and-desist order and a separate civil money penalty.

Replacing Poston as CFO is Tayfun Tuzun, who previously served as Fifth Third’s treasurer. Tuzun joined Fifth Third in 2007 and previously held senior positions in finance and treasury at Provident Financial Group in Cincinnati.

Mary Tuuk, the company's board secretary and executive vice president of corporate services, will assume additional compliance responsibilities.

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