Capital One Financial Corp
Capital One Financial Corporation (the 'Corporation') is a holding company, incorporated
in Delaware on July'21, 1994, whose subsidiaries market a variety of consumer
financial products and services. The Corporation's principal subsidiary, Capital
One Bank (the 'Bank'), a limited-purpose Virginia state chartered credit card
bank, offers credit card products. Capital One, F.S.B. (the 'Savings Bank'), a
federally chartered savings bank, offers consumer lending and deposit products,
and Capital One Auto Finance, Inc. ('COAF') offers automobile and other motor
vehicle financing products. Capital One Services, Inc., another subsidiary of
the Corporation, provides various operating, administrative and other services
to the Corporation and its subsidiaries.
We are among the six largest issuers of Visa' and MasterCard' credit cards
in the United States based on managed credit card loans outstanding. Important
factors underlying the growth of our managed credit card loans and accounts
include credit card industry dynamics and our business strategies around building,
analyzing and applying results derived from large quantities of data to reduce
credit risk, mass customize products for consumers and improve operational efficiency.
We offer credit cards throughout the United States. We also offer credit card
products outside of the United States principally through Capital One Bank (Europe)
plc, an indirect subsidiary of the Bank organized and located in the United
Kingdom (the 'U.K. Bank'), and a branch of the Bank in Canada.
We offer automobile and other motor vehicle financing products through COAF
and its subsidiaries. These financing products are offered for the purchase
of either new or used vehicles or the refinancing of existing motor vehicle
loans. We also offer other secured and unsecured consumer lending products through
our subsidiaries both in the United States and elsewhere.
We use IBS to differentiate among customers based on credit risk, usage and
other characteristics and to match customer characteristics with appropriate
product offerings. IBS involves building sophisticated models and information
systems, while employing a well-trained staff and a flexible culture to identify,
develop and market credit card or other products and services to satisfy the
demands of a competitive and ever changing marketplace. By actively testing
a wide variety of product and service features, marketing channels and other
aspects of offerings, we design customized solicitations, products and services
that are targeted at specific credit customer segments, thereby enhancing response
levels and maximizing returns on investment within given underwriting parameters.
We build on information derived from our initial sources with continued integrated
testing and model development to improve the quality, performance and profitability
of our solicitation and account management initiatives.
We compete with international, national, regional and local issuers of Visa'
and MasterCard' credit cards. In addition, American Express', Discover Card',
Diner's Club' and, to a certain extent, smart cards and debit cards, represent
additional competition to the general purpose credit card. In general, customers
are attracted to credit card issuers largely on the basis of price, credit limit
and other product features, and customer loyalty is often limited. In motor
vehicle finance, we face competition from banks and non-bank lenders who provide
financing for dealer-originated loans. Additionally, we face competition from
a small, but growing number of online automobile finance providers. We also
face competition from lenders in our installment loan and other lending activities.
We believe that IBS allows us to compete effectively in both our current and
new markets.