Griggs

Fifth Third Bancorp Friday announced the hiring of a new executive vice president and chief risk officer.

Malcolm D. Griggs, 42, joins the Cincinnati-based bank after serving as director of risk policy for Wachovia Corp. in Charlotte, N.C., since 1995. starts April 21.

It's a new position for Fifth Third Bank, and it comes after bookkeeping errors forced the bank to take a $54 million write-off against third-quarter profit last year. The incident prompted an investigation by the Federal Reserve of Cleveland, the Securities and Exchange Commission and state banking regulators.

The bank expects some regulatory action as a result of the investigation - an action that could occur as soon as the end of March.

Griggs' duties will include managing risk policies, monitoring risk strategies and ensuring compliance with regulations and banking industry standards.

Before Griggs' position was created, managers overseeing the bank's four lines of business - retail, commercial, investment advisers and processing - were responsible for assessing risk.

Ken Alltucker