CINCINNATI, Dec. 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Fifth Third Processing Solutions is pleased to announce that the following restaurant merchants have signed new contracts for processing services:

-- Bojangles' Restaurant, Inc. founded in 1977 with headquarters in Charlotte, North Carolina, operates more than 390 restaurants in 11 states. The Company specializes in a variety of chicken, sides, biscuits and sandwiches, and has signed with Fifth Third for gift card processing. -- Shoney's has signed with Fifth Third for credit and gift card processing. The Nashville, Tennessee-based company started in 1947 and currently owns, operates and franchises 274 restaurants in 18 states. -- Yoshinoya, based in Torrance, California and famous for its Beef Bowl(R), has 85 locations throughout California, New York and Las Vegas. The Company has signed a contract for credit card processing services and has begun accepting credit cards at some of its locations and will be able to accept credit cards at most of its locations by the end of January 2008. -- Logan's Roadhouse, Inc., headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee, currently owns 162 company-operated and 26 franchised Logan's Roadhouse restaurants in 23 states. Logan's Roadhouse has signed with Fifth Third for credit card processing.

In addition, the following retailer has renewed with Fifth Third Processing Solutions:

-- ABC Liquors, Inc has renewed with Fifth Third for credit and debit card processing. The company is headquartered in Orlando, Florida and is the country's largest privately owned fine wine and spirits merchant, with approximately 150 stores from Tallahassee to Miami operating under the name ABC Fine Wine & Spirits.

"These four merchant additions point to our strength in the restaurant market" said Donald Boeding, Fifth Third Processing Solutions senior vice president and general manager of Merchant Services. "Restaurants typically require systems capable of not only processing payments, but also managing orders, timesheets and more. By leveraging our technology prowess and great relationships with restaurant software providers, we are able to meet the sophisticated needs of this niche market.

"We also are pleased to have been chosen again by ABC Liquors as its strategic processing partner. The contract renewal demonstrates the value of our industry-leading processing products and outstanding customer service."

Fifth Third Processing Solutions processes over 21 billion ATM and POS transactions per year for more than 2,400 financial institutions and over 154,692 retail locations worldwide, including the Armed Forces Financial Network (AFFN), First Niagara Financial Group, Sovereign Bank, The Kroger Co., AutoZone, Abercrombie & Fitch, Nordstrom, Inc. and The Finish Line. Through its wholly owned subsidiary, CMC, (http://www.cmcone.com/) Fifth Third also provides servicing solutions and product engineering for financial institutions and retailers for credit card, debit card, merchant and private label programs. Through its multi-channel contact center, CMC provides multi-lingual customer service, collections, fraud prevention, and other back-office services to thousands of clients throughout the US and Canada. Annually, Fifth Third processes $148.1 billion in credit card sales. According to The Nilson Report (March 2007), Fifth Third Bank is the fourth largest bankcard acquirer.

Fifth Third Bancorp is a diversified financial services company headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. As of September 30, 2007, the Company had $104 billion in assets, operated 18 affiliates with 1,181 full-service Banking Centers, including 104 Bank Mart(R) locations open seven days a week inside select grocery stores and 2,153 ATMs in Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Florida, Tennessee, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Missouri. Fifth Third operates five main businesses: Commercial Banking, Branch Banking, Consumer Lending, Investment Advisors and Fifth Third Processing Solutions. Fifth Third is among the largest money managers in the Midwest and, as of September 30, 2007, had $232 billion in assets under care, of which it managed $34 billion for individuals, corporations and not-for- profit organizations. Investor information and press releases can be viewed at http://www.53.com/. Fifth Third's common stock is traded through the NASDAQ(R) National Global Select Market System under the symbol "FITB."

CONTACT: Stephanie Honan of Fifth Third Bancorp, +1-513-534-6957

Web site: http://www.53.com/