Exhibit 99.1

                        [LETTERHEAD OF FIFTH THIRD BANK]

    Fifth Third Announces Amendment to Common Stock Repurchase Authorization

          Fifth Third Bancorp's Board of Directors amended the Company's common
stock repurchase authorization to include private purchases, in addition to open
market purchases. The repurchase authorization adopted on December 18, 2001
remained the same in all other respects. The Company is authorized to purchase
in the open market, or in any private transaction, up to three percent of
outstanding common shares.

Corporate Profile
        Fifth Third Bancorp is a diversified financial services company
headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. The Company has $71 billion in assets,
operates 16 affiliates with 927 full-service Banking Centers, including 136 Bank
Mart(R) locations open seven days a week inside select grocery stores and 1,826
Jeanie(R) ATMs in Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Florida and West
Virginia. The financial strength of Fifth Third's affiliate banks continues to
be recognized by rating agencies with deposit ratings of AA- and Aa2 from
Standard & Poor's and Moody's, respectively. Additionally, Fifth Third Bancorp
continues to maintain the highest short-term ratings available at A-1+ and
Prime-1, and was recently recognized by Moody's with one of the highest senior
debt ratings for any U.S. bank holding company of Aa3. Fifth Third operates four
main businesses: Retail, Commercial, Investment Advisors and Midwest Payment
Systems, the Bank's electronic payment processing subsidiary. Investor
information and press releases can viewed at www.53.com. The Company's common
stock is traded through The NASDAQ National Market System under the symbol
"FITB."

        This document contains forward-looking statements about Fifth Third
Bancorp which we believe are within the meaning of the Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995. This document contains certain forward-looking
statements with respect to the financial condition, results of operations,
plans, objectives, future performance and business of Fifth Third including
statements preceded by, followed by or that included the words "believes,"
"expects," "anticipates" or similar expressions. These forward-looking
statements involve certain risks and



uncertainties. There are a number of important factors that could cause future
results to differ materially from historical performance and these
forward-looking statements. Factors that might cause such a difference include,
but are not limited to: (1) competitive pressures among depository institutions
increase significantly; (2) changes in the interest rate environment reduce
interest margins; (3) prepayment speeds, loan sale volumes, charge-offs and loan
loss provisions; (4) general economic conditions, either national or in the
states in which Fifth Third does business, are less favorable than expected; (5)
legislative or regulatory changes adversely affect the businesses in which Fifth
Third is engaged; (6) changes in the securities markets. Further information on
other factors which could affect the financial results of Fifth Third are
included in Fifth Third's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
These documents are available free of charge at the Commission's website at
http://www.sec.gov and/or from Fifth Third.