Fifth Third Bank sets stage for nationwide expansion by applying for national bank charter

Fifth Third Bank currently operates in Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Florida, Tennessee, West Virginia, Georgia, and North Carolina, but the Ohio-based bank apparently has plans to go nationwide.

Fifth Third announced this week that it filed an application with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to convert itself from an Ohio state-chartered bank to a nationally chartered bank, overseen by the OCC.

According to the bank, it is seeking to change from a state-chartered bank to a national bank to “better align regulatory supervision with its expanding national business model by streamlining its operations under one uniform set of laws and regulations.”

Fifth Third currently operates four main business lines: commercial banking, branch banking, consumer lending, and wealth and asset management.

As of March 31, 2019, Fifth Third had $168 billion in assets and operated 1,207 full-service banking centers and 2,559 ATMs in Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Florida, Tennessee, West Virginia, Georgia, and North Carolina.

And if the bank gets OCC approval, it will likely expand beyond those 10 states.