COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A darling of Wall Street for its profitability and efficiency, Fifth Third Bancorp now finds itself trying to explain what led to an $82 million mistake in its bond portfolio and the resulting fallout.

The multimillion dollar accounting error at the third-largest Ohio-based bank was discovered last summer during a change in computer systems. A group of 40 executives at the bank's Cincinnati headquarters continue working to find out exactly what happened.

"To my knowledge, there isn't anybody who can say, 'Call so-and-so in Cincinnati, they've got the complete answer,"' Don Shackelford, a veteran Columbus banker who retired from Fifth Third's corporate board of directors this year, told The Columbus Dispatch for a story published Sunday.

"What it isn't is like some guy going to Brazil with (the) money," Shackelford said.

No customers lost money because the mistake.

In September, the bank announced that it would take an $82 million pretax charge against earnings in the third quarter because of the error, which arose a result of logging incorrect values for mortgage-backed securities and other assets.

"This was a pretty big screw-up," said Rick Wayman, an analyst who follows Fifth Third for C

The Daily Independent

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