NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwire - May 28, 2012) - The U.S. Banking Industry has continued to show signs of recovery coming out of the recent recession. The industry saw just 16 FDIC-insured banks fail in the first quarter of the year, the lowest total since the end of 2008, according to the FDIC's quarterly banking profile. Also the number of banks at risk of failure fell to 772, the lowest total since the end of 2009, from 813 in the previous quarter. Five Star Equities examines the outlook for companies in the Banking Industry and provides equity research on Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ: [ FITB ]) and KeyCorp (NYSE: [ KEY ]).

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Last Thursday, the FDIC stated that the U.S. Banking Industry posted a first quarter profit of $35.3 billion, their best since 2007. FDIC-insured banks first quarter profits grew23 percent ($6.6 billion) from the year prior, marking the 11^th consecutive quarter profits have shown a year-over-year increase according to the FDIC. "The condition of the industry continues to gradually improve," said Martin J. Gruenberg, the FDIC's acting chairman. "Insured institutions have made steady progress in shedding bad loans, bolstering net worth and increasing profitability."

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Fifth Third Bancorp is a diversified financial services company headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. As of March 31, 2012, Fifth Third Bancorp had $117 billion in assets and operated 15 affiliates with 1,315 full-service banking centers. Last month the company reported first quarter 2012 net income of $430 million, compared with net income of $314 million in the fourth quarter of 2011 and net income of $265 million in the first quarter of 2011.

KeyCorp is one of the nation's largest bank-based financial services companies, with assets of approximately $87 billion. Last month KeyCorp reported first quarter net income from continuing operations attributable to Key common shareholders of $199 million, or $.21 per common share. This result compares to $184 million or $.21 per common share for the first quarter of 2011.

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