Capital One 2013 Annual Report Download - page 8

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Across all our businesses, we remain highly focused on sustaining
profitability at the higher end of banks. We’re tightly managing costs.
We continue to apply preemptive conservatism to credit underwriting
and risk management. And we’re growing loans and revenues
where we’re investing to grow: in commercial banking, auto finance,
and the most resilient parts of our card business. As a result, we
believe we’re well-positioned to deliver strong financial performance
over the long run.
Two Successful Integrations
One of the biggest achievements of 2013 was completing
the integrations of the two large businesses we acquired
in 2012, ING Direct and HSBC’s U.S. credit card
business. We completed both integrations on time and
under budget.
With ING Direct, we focused on protecting its beloved customer experience
and “customer-first” culture. We are pleased with the results. The ING Direct
brand was successfully transitioned to Capital One 360 with minimal negative
customer impacts. As expected, we saw a temporary dip in customer
metrics following the brand change, but customer satisfaction, attrition
rates, and other key measures have mostly returned to historical levels.
Associate morale and engagement at Capital One 360 are high.
The integration of the HSBC U.S. credit card business was one of the most
complex projects Capital One has ever undertaken. It was a massive
operational challenge that required the disentangling of HSBC’s credit card
infrastructure from its parent company and the unwinding of more than 250
Transition Service Agreements that governed interim servicing between
Capital One and HSBC. In early 2013, we assumed control of a new data
center and transitioned key IT and operations associates to Capital One. This
summer, we completed the branded book conversion and transitioned
11 million accounts to the Capital One customer experience in all digital and
non-digital channels. Customer satisfaction and advocacy scores improved
immediately and dramatically – a rarity after an acquisition in financial services.
And in the fall, we took over a new call center and transitioned 2,200 associates
with no dip in customer service levels. We’ve incorporated some remaining
activities into our ongoing initiatives to enhance our infrastructure, but the
integration of the HSBC U.S. credit card business is essentially complete.
We’re the credit card partner for
many world-class brands, and
we’re helping our partners deepen
customer loyalty and deliver
innovative products and experiences.
For example, our new GM Card
redefines automotive rewards with
no annual fee, no limit on the
amount of rewards consumers can
accumulate or redeem, and rewards
that don’t expire.