Exhibit 99.1

                                                               News Release

CONTACT: Bradley S. Adams (Analysts)               FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
         (513) 534-0983                            March 27, 2003
         Roberta R. Jennings (Media)
         (513) 579-4153

              Fifth Third Announces Share Repurchase Authorization

         Fifth Third Bancorp's Board of Directors conducted its annual
evaluation of the Company's stock repurchase program and authorized the Company
to acquire in the open market or in any private transaction, from time-to-time
and in accordance with applicable laws, rules and regulations, up to 20 million
common shares for the issuance of stock options and other corporate purposes.
Currently, there are approximately five million shares remaining under a
previous authorization that will be repurchased prior to initiating purchases
under the new authorization. The Company had approximately 574 million common
shares outstanding as of December 31, 2002.

         Fifth Third Bancorp is a diversified financial services company
headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. The Company has $81 billion in assets,
operates 17 affiliates with 939 full-service Banking Centers, including 132 Bank
Mart(R) locations open seven days a week inside select grocery stores and 1,864
Jeanie(R) ATMs in Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Florida, West
Virginia and Tennessee. The financial strength of Fifth Third's affiliate banks
continues to be recognized by rating agencies with deposit ratings of AA- and
Aa1 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 Aa2. Fifth Third
operates four main businesses: Retail, Commercial, Investment Advisors and
Processing Solutions, the Bank's electronic payment processing subsidiary.
Investor information and press releases can be 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 include 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 or actions adversely affect
the businesses in which Fifth Third is engaged; (6) changes in the securities
markets; (7) a delayed or incomplete resolution of regulatory issues (8) the
impact of reputational risk created by these developments on such matters as
business generation and retention, funding and liquidity; and (9) the outcome of
legal proceedings. 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.

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