By Connor Hart

Fifth Third Bancorp logged higher profit in the fourth quarter, as net charge-offs fell and the company continued work toward its acquisition of Comerica.

The regional lender on Tuesday posted net income of $731 million, or $1.04 a share, compared with $620 million, or 85 cents a share, a year earlier. Earnings were weighed down by 4 cents a share in one-off charges, such as expenses tied to the company's acquisition of Comerica. Analysts surveyed by FactSet expected earnings of $1 a share.

Fifth Third, which said it would acquire Comerica for $10.9 billion in October, remains on track to close the deal on Feb. 1, the company said. "We remain confident in our ability to achieve the expected financial synergies from the pending acquisition, and the result will be a Fifth Third that is better and not just bigger," it said.

The Cincinnati company notched a provision for credit losses of $119 million, down 34% from a year ago.

Net interest income rose 6.2% to $1.53 billion, in line with analyst views. Fifth Third in part attributed the increase to benefits from proactive deposit and wholesale funding management decreasing interest-bearing liabilities costs.

Noninterest income climbed 11% to $811 million, while noninterest expense increased 6.8% to $1.31 billion.

Net charge-offs totaled $125 million in the recent quarter, down $214 million from the third quarter, which included a $178 million fraud-related impairment of a commercial credit. Excluding that credit, net charge-offs were down $36 million sequentially.

Write to Connor Hart at connor.hart@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 20, 2026 06:57 ET (11:57 GMT)

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