Fifth Third Bancorp surprised investors with stronger-than-expected lending revenue, bucking an industrywide decline that has plagued banks this year, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Other banks reporting their financial results yesterday saw weak loan growth, but BB&T Corp. and KeyCorp. beat analysts' profit forecasts thanks largely to cost-cutting. For more than a decade, Fifth Third's hallmark was a tight grip on commercial lending in the Midwest, and yesterday the Cincinnati bank demonstrated that it can grow even as its regional bank rivals saw demand for loans dwindling across the country.
