Feature News

CINCINNATI, Feb. 11 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Fifth Third Processing Solutions is pleased to announce that O'Charley's Inc. and Old Time Pottery have signed contracts for merchant processing services:

-- O'Charley's Inc., headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee, is a multi-concept restaurant company that operates or franchises a total of 371 restaurants in 28 states under three brands: O'Charley's, Ninety Nine Restaurant, and Stoney River Legendary Steaks. The Organization has signed with Fifth Third for credit card processing.

-- Old Time Pottery opened its first low-cost warehouse style home decor store in 1986 in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. The Company now has 38 stores throughout the Southeast and Midwest and has signed with Fifth Third for debit, credit and gift card processing.

"We are pleased to welcome these two new national clients," said Donald Boeding, president of Merchant Services for Fifth Third Processing Solutions. "These new partnerships underline Fifth Third's commitment to investing in the people, technology and systems necessary to effectively support the payment processing needs for a wide variety of businesses including traditional retailers and restaurants such as these."

Fifth Third Processing Solutions processes over 28.4 billion ATM and POS transactions per year for more than 2,900 financial institutions and over 169,000 retail locations worldwide, including the Armed Forces Financial Network (AFFN), First Niagara Financial Group, Sovereign Bank, The Kroger Co., AutoZone, Abercrombie & Fitch and The Finish Line. Through its wholly owned subsidiary, CMC, (www.cmcOne.com) Fifth Third also provides servicing solutions and product engineering for financial institutions and retailers for credit card, debit card, merchant and private label programs. Annually, Fifth Third processes $191.6 billion in credit card sales. According to The Nilson Report (March 2008), Fifth Third Bank is the fourth largest bankcard acquirer.

Fifth Third Bancorp (Nasdaq: FITB) is a diversified financial services company headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. The Company has $120 billion in assets, operates 16 affiliates with 1,307 full-service Banking Centers, including 93 Bank Mart(R) locations open seven days a week inside select grocery stores and 2,351 ATMs in Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Florida, Tennessee, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Missouri, Georgia and North Carolina. Fifth Third operates five main businesses: Commercial Banking, Branch Banking, Consumer Lending, Investment Advisors and Fifth Third Processing Solutions. Fifth Third is among the largest money managers in the Midwest and, as of December 31, 2008, has $179 billion in assets under care, of which it managed $25 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(R) National Global Select Market under the symbol "FITB."