2021 ESG Report SOCIAL Leadership Capabilities Developing Great Leaders Fifth Third’s Leader Capabilities, launched in 2020, are at the heart of Human Capital’s strategic priority to develop great leaders. The four Leader Capabilities—Create Connections, Be a Great Coach, Lead with Agility, and Act Like An Owner—align with the Bank’s vision, core values and strategic actions. In 2021, our learning journeys associated with each Leader Capability became more self- guided and accessible through Degreed, empowering leaders to engage with online training and resources, immersive simulations and learning cafes. The journeys span 20-24 months, and managers engaged with content that helped them navigate the pandemic’s impact on customers and employees. The focus on coaching and leadership is evident in the favorable manager scores received from our Employee Viewpoint Survey. Developing Tomorrow’s Talent Today For over 30 years, Fifth Third has advocated early career support for individuals seeking careers in fnancial services. Early career opportunities for students and recent graduates include both direct-hire roles and nine leadership development programs. The programs are Audit, Commercial and Credit, Finance and Accounting, IT, Operations, Risk Management, Strategic Projects and Analytics, Wealth & Asset Management, and Commercial Middle Market. Contents Early career programs expose participants to our business through rotational experiences, including structured education to develop leader capabilities; exposure to seasoned performers, senior leaders and other early career learners; and resources to support strong performance and development. Over a two-year period, leadership program participants have access to formal learning programs, such as consultative skills, building relationships using DiSC® assessments, emotional intelligence and presentation skills. They also participate in the Connect@53 challenge, which helps them establish their frst 53 connections at the Bank. We also support their growth and development through our business resource groups and structured community service and volunteer opportunities. Education Assistance Program Fifth Third encourages employees to enroll in outside education programs to broaden their knowledge and improve job performance. We provide assistance for external education, including tuition reimbursement to full- and part-time employees of up to $5,250 and $2,500, respectively, per calendar year. In 2021, we paid over $1.4 million in tuition reimbursement. Additionally, relationships with Western Governors University and the University of Phoenix mean employees can take advantage of discounted tuition rates as they work toward their degrees. Introduction Economic Environment Social Governance Fifth Third Goes Lean In 2020, Fifth Third announced its Lean Process Automation (LPA) strategy to reduce processes and become more efcient with time, money and talent. The strategy involves all lines of businesses and combines lean Six Sigma methodology, robotic process automation and design thinking to drive customer-focused innovation. Squads partnered closely with change management practitioners to drive rapid implementation and adoption of efcient and efective solutions. To ensure all IT employees had baseline knowledge of lean process automation and to help employees upskill in this area, a team of IT employees certifed in Lean Six Sigma partnered with our Learning and Development team to create an LPA pathway in Degreed. To create a comprehensive LPA overview, the black belts curated content from LinkedIn Learning, Fifth Third’s library of internal tools and other resources. The pathway launched in 2021, and all IT employees, regardless of their LPA experience, were required to complete the training; 100% of IT employees did so. Improved processes and savings in cost and time were the result. One outcome was the optimization of the Bank’s servers that handle email, data processing and electronic transactions, saving over $2 million. In 2022, Fifth Third will launch lean process automation training to all employees. 64