Fox v. Fifth Third Bancorp

Labaton Keller Sucharow is lead counsel in a securities class action lawsuit against Fifth Third Bancorp (Fifth Third) and certain of its executives.  A settlement was reached that resolves claims on behalf of all persons and entities that purchased or acquired Fifth Third publicly traded common stock pursuant and/or traceable to the Registration Statement issued in connection with Fifth Third’s March 22, 2019, acquisition of MB Financial Inc., and were allegedly damaged thereby.

The Court in charge of the case is the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois.

On May 21, 2018, Fifth Third announced that it had signed a definitive agreement to acquire MB Financial, a Chicago-based holding company for MB Financial Bank, N.A.  As consideration for the MB Financial Acquisition, on or about March 22, 2019, Fifth Third issued approximately 131 million new shares of Fifth Third common stock directly to former shareholders of MB Financial common stock as follows: every MB Financial shareholder received 1.45 shares of newly issued Fifth Third common stock, as well as $5.54 in cash, for each share of MB Financial common stock they owned (the Offering).  Plaintiff’s claims arise from allegedly material misstatements and omissions in the Registration Statement issued in connection with the MB Financial Acquisition.  Plaintiff alleges that, prior to the Offering, Fifth Third used a “cross-sell” strategy to boost its sales that entailed, among other things, the opening of customer accounts and credit cards to meet sales goals under an incentive-compensation program, transferring funds to accounts, enrolling customers in online-banking services and fee-based lines of credit without their knowledge or consent, and charging customer fees related to these products and services.  As alleged in the Complaint, the CFPB launched an investigation into the practices.  In general, the Complaint alleges that the Registration Statement failed to disclose the alleged cross-sell strategy; the pending CFPB investigation; alleged failures in Fifth Third’s internal controls; and the nature of Fifth Third’s financial performance.  Plaintiff alleges the Registration Statement contained inaccurate statements of material fact in violation of the Securities Act of 1933.

Defendants filed a motion to dismiss the amended Complaint on October 13, 2020.  The Court denied the motion to dismiss in an oral ruling dated March 19, 2021.

The case is Fox v. Fifth Third Bancorp, et al., No. 2020-CH-05219.  Labaton Keller Sucharow represents plaintiff Steven Fox.

Submit Claim Form

If you purchased or acquired Fifth Third publicly traded common stock pursuant and/or traceable to the Registration Statement issued in connection with Fifth Third’s March 22, 2019, acquisition of MB Financial Inc., you may be entitled to a payment from a class action settlement.  To be eligible for a payment, you must submit a Claim Form to the Claims Administrator by September 9, 2023.

Settlement Hearing

The Settlement Hearing was held on September 14, 2023.  If you have questions about the Settlement, please contact Labaton Keller Sucharow at settlementquestions@labaton.com or 888 219-6877, or contact the Claims Administrator, at (855) 662-0528

Additional information about the Settlement can also be found at www.FifthThirdBancorpSecuritiesSettlement.com