According to the Complaint, Fifth Third Bancorp 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, the Complaint alleges 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.