Capital One 2003 Annual Report Download - page 22

Our common stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol COF and our Upper DECs®
securities are listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol COFPRC. Our principal executive office
is located at 1680 Capital One Drive, McLean, Virginia 22102 (telephone number [phone]). The
Corporation maintains a website at www.capitalone.com. Documents available on our website include the
Corporation’s (i) Code of Business Conduct and Ethics, (ii) Corporate Governance Principles; (iii) and charters
for the Audit and Risk, Compensation, Finance, and Governance and Nominating Committees. These documents
are also available in print to any shareholder who requests a copy. In addition, we make available free of charge
through our website our annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form
8-K and amendments to those reports as soon as reasonably practicable after electronic filing or furnishing of
such material with the SEC.
Business Description
With more than 47.0 million accounts, Capital One is one of the world’s largest financial services franchises. We
are a diversified financial services corporation focused primarily on consumer lending. Our principal business
segments are domestic credit card lending, automobile and other motor vehicle financing and global financial
services. For further discussion of our segments, see pages 47-48 in Item 7 “Management’s Discussion and
Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Reportable Segments” and pages 71-73 in Item 8
“Financial Statements and Supplementary Data—Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements—Note B”.
U.S. Card Segment. We offer a wide variety of credit card products throughout the United States. We customize
our products to appeal to different consumer preferences and needs by combining different product features,
including annual percentage rates, fees and credit limits, rewards programs and other special features. We
routinely test new products to develop ones that appeal to different and changing consumer preferences. Our
customized products include both products offered to a wide range of consumer credit risk profiles, as well as
products aimed at special consumer interests. Our pricing strategies are risk-based; lower risk customers may
likely be offered products with more favorable pricing and we expect these products to yield lower delinquencies
and credit losses. On products offered to many higher risk customers, however, we may experience higher
delinquencies and losses, and we price these products accordingly.
Auto Finance Segment. We also apply IBS to our auto finance business. Through COAF, we purchase retail
installment contracts, secured by automobiles or other motor vehicles, through dealer networks throughout the
United States. Additionally, we utilize direct marketing to offer automobile financing directly to consumers. Our
direct marketed products include financing for the purchase of new and used vehicles, as well as refinancing of
existing motor vehicle loans. In October 2001, we acquired the nation’s largest online provider of direct motor
vehicle loans. Similar to our credit card strategy, we customize product features, such as interest rate, loan
amount, and loan terms, enabling us to lend to customers with a wide range of credit profiles.
Global Financial Services Segment. Our Global Financial Services (“GFS”) segment includes a variety of diverse
products for consumers in the United States and internationally. Domestically, GFS manages installment lending,
patient financing (through Amerifee Corporation, which we acquired in May 2001), and small business lending
activities, as well as other consumer financial businesses. We grew in both our installment lending business as
well as our deposit-taking business in 2003. In addition, we have, and may in the future achieve further
diversification through acquisition, organic growth or both. GFS also includes our international businesses,
where we are using the IBS methodologies and approaches we have learned in our U.S. credit card and motor
vehicle financing businesses in new geographies. Internationally, we are currently operating primarily in the
United Kingdom and Canada. In 2003, we continued to grow in the number of accounts and loan balances in our
international lending business, with most of our growth coming from the United Kingdom. Our U.K. Bank has
authority to accept deposits and provide credit card and installment loans.
We also engage in limited non-lending activities. We take deposits from customers in the U.S., which are
originated through direct and indirect channels. We also offer other products to our customers, including credit
insurance, through third-party providers.
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