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CINCINNATI, Nov. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- Fifth Third Processing Solutions is pleased to announce that Wright State University has signed a contract to begin offering Fifth Third Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) to its employees. Wright State University, located in Dayton, Ohio, employs more than 2,400 faculty and staff, serving nearly 17,000 students and offering more than 100 undergraduate and 50 Ph.D., graduate, and professional degrees.

"Through our company-sponsored HSA program, employers like Wright State can provide employees with more control over their healthcare spending and savings," said Jon Groch, senior vice president and director of Bankcard Services. "Combined with a high deductible health plan, an HSA provides participants the ability to save and pay for health care expenses on a tax advantaged basis. We are pleased to have been chosen by Wright State and look forward to working with the University and its employees."

Employers, health insurance companies and third party administrators electing to offer employees a high deductible health plan in conjunction with an HSA can do so with a company-sponsored custodial account through Fifth Third. Fifth Third will provide plan participants and employees with an HSA that pays a market rate of return on deposit balances. Fifth Third's HSA also supports unlimited debit card access, convenient access to the account via the Internet, account statements, tax reporting and brokerage investment options.

Fifth Third Processing Solutions processes over 26.7 billion ATM and POS transactions per year for more than 2,900 financial institutions and over 163,585 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. Through its multi-channel contact center, CMC provides multi-lingual customer service, collections, fraud prevention, and other back-office services to thousands of clients throughout the US and Canada. Annually, Fifth Third processes $179.1 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 $116 billion in assets, operates 18 affiliates with 1,298 full-service Banking Centers, including 93 Bank Mart(R) locations open seven days a week inside select grocery stores and 2,329 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 September 30, 2008, has $196 billion in assets under care, of which it managed $ 30 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."