Capital One 2007 Annual Report Download - page 25

3
PART I
Item 1. Business.
Overview
Capital One Financial Corporation (the Corporation) is one of the largest banks in the United States, incorporated in Delaware on
July 21, 1994, whose banking and non-banking subsidiaries market a variety of financial products and services. The Corporations
principal subsidiaries include Capital One Bank (COB) which currently offers credit and debit card products, other lending
products, and deposit products; and Capital One, National Association (CONA) which offers a broad spectrum of banking products
and financial services to consumers, small businesses and commercial clients. Another subsidiary of the Corporation, Superior
Savings of New England, N.A. (Superior) focuses on telephonic and media-based generation of deposits. The Corporation and its
subsidiaries are collectively referred to as the Company. Unless indicated otherwise, the terms Corporation, we, us, and our
refer to the Corporation and its consolidated subsidiaries.
As of January 1, 2008, Capital One Auto Finance Inc. (COAF) moved from a principal subsidiary of the Corporation to become a
direct operating subsidiary of CONA. COAF offers automobile and other motor vehicle financing products.
In the third quarter of 2007, the Company shut down the mortgage origination operations of its wholesale mortgage banking unit,
GreenPoint Mortgage (GreenPoint), an operating subsidiary of CONA. Additional information can be found in Item 8 Financial
Statements and Supplementary DataNotes to the Consolidated Financial StatementsNote 2Discontinued Operations.
As of December 31, 2007, we had $83.0 billion in deposits and $151.4 billion in managed loans outstanding. We are among the
largest issuers of Visa® (Visa) and MasterCard® (MasterCard) credit cards in the United States based on managed credit card loans
outstanding, and we are the 10th largest depository institution in the United States.
We offer our products throughout the United States. We also offer our products outside of the United States principally through
Capital One Bank (Europe) plc, an indirect subsidiary of COB organized and located in the United Kingdom (the U.K. Bank), and
through a branch of COB in Canada. Our U.K. Bank has authority, among other things, to accept deposits and provide credit card and
installment loans.
Our common stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol COF. 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 (i) Codes of Business Conduct and Ethics for the Corporation;
(ii) the Corporations Corporate Governance Principles; and (iii) charters for the Audit and Risk, Compensation, Finance and Trust
Oversight, and Governance and Nominating Committees of the Board of Directors. 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 to the SEC.
Business Description
Capital One is one of the largest banks in the United States. We are a diversified banking corporation focused primarily on consumer
and commercial lending and deposit origination. Our principal business segments are Local Banking and National Lending. Local
Banking includes consumer, small business and commercial deposits and lending conducted within its branch network. The National
Lending segment consists of three sub-segments: the U.S. Card sub-segment which consists of domestic consumer credit and debit
card activities; the Auto Finance sub-segment which includes automobile and other motor vehicle financing activities; the Global
Financial Services sub-segment consisting of international lending activities, small business lending, installment loans, home loans,
healthcare financing and other diversified activities. For further discussion of our segments, see Item 7 Managements Discussion
and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of OperationsReportable Segment Summary and Item 8 Financial Statements
and Supplementary DataNotes to the Consolidated Financial StatementsNote 4.
Local Banking Segment. The Local Banking segment represents the results of the legacy North Fork and Hibernia business lines
except for the Hibernia and North Fork indirect auto businesses, which are included in the Auto Finance sub-segment results, and the
investment portfolio results which are included in the Other category. In addition, the Banking segment includes the results of the
Companys branchless deposit business. The Banking segment offers traditional banking products through an extensive branch
network in Connecticut, Louisiana, New Jersey, New York, and Texas. Products include commercial and consumer loans, commercial
and consumer deposit account services, commercial credit cards, treasury management services, trust services and other banking
related products, such as insurance, brokerage services, merchant services, and investment banking. In addition, the Banking segment
offers money market (liquid accounts) and certificate of deposit accounts (time deposits) through internet channels.
U.S. Card Sub-segment. We offer a wide variety of credit card products throughout the United States, which we customize to appeal to
different consumer preferences and needs. Our product offerings are supported by extensive brand advertising. We routinely test new