Capital One

Consultants Richard D. Fairbank and Nigel W. Morris planned a more integrated and scientific approach to marketing bank cards. After more than 20 national retail banks turned them down, they found a partner in Signet Bank of Richmond, Virginia, which in 1988 launched a new credit card division headed by the two.⁠[1]

In 1994 Signet Banking Corporation spun off its credit card unit as Oakstone Financial Corporation, with an initial public offering at $16 per share late that year and Fairbank as chairman and chief executive. The separation was completed in February 1995, and the company was renamed Capital One Financial Corporation.⁠[2]

On February 17, 2012, Capital One completed its acquisition of the U.S. ING Direct business from ING Groep for $6.3 billion in cash and about 54 million Capital One shares, a 9.7 percent stake. ING Direct, the largest direct bank in the country, held nearly $83.0 billion in deposits as of December 31, 2011.⁠[3]

The deal produced a $594 million bargain purchase gain in the first quarter of 2012. The company then said it expected to complete the acquisition of the HSBC US card business in the second quarter.⁠[4]

In July 2015 Capital One entered into a consent order with the Office of the Comptroller of the CurrencyOffice of the Comptroller of the CurrencyThe Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is an independent U.S. Treasury bureau that supervises national banks and other institutions.Open the full entry (OCC) over anti-money laundering concerns; the OCC lifted it in November 2019.⁠[5]

Capital One systems were accessed without authorization on March 22 and 23, 2019. The company determined it on July 19 and announced it on July 29; it affected about 100 million people in the United States and 6 million in Canada, including about 140,000 Social Security numbers and 1 million Canadian Social Insurance Numbers. Fairbank said: “I am deeply sorry for what has happened.”⁠[6]

On October 11, 2019, it completed its purchase of Walmart’s cobrand and private label card receivables, adding about $8.1 billion of loans, becoming its exclusive U.S. issuer.⁠[5]

On August 6, 2020, the OCC assessed an $80 million civil money penalty and entered into a cease-and-desist order with Capital One’s bank subsidiaries under its Part 30 safety and soundness rules, over risk assessment processes for migrating operations to the cloud; the bank had already begun corrective action. The Federal Reserve Board entered into a similar order with the parent holding company.⁠[7]

In January 2022 Capital One reached a settlement in multidistrict litigation in the Eastern District of Virginia, creating a $190 million fund to reimburse affected customers for losses directly attributable to the breach.⁠[8]

On June 17, 2022, a federal jury convicted the intruder, Paige Thompson, of wire fraud and five counts of unauthorized access to a protected computer, among other charges, and acquitted her of access device fraud and aggravated identity theft. She had used a tool she built to scan for misconfigured Amazon Web Services accounts and downloaded data from more than 30 entities.⁠[9]

In October 2022 U.S. District Judge Robert S. Lasnik sentenced Thompson to time served and five years of probation; prosecutors had sought seven years in prison.⁠[10]

On February 19, 2024, Capital One announced a $35.3 billion all-stock deal to acquire Discover Financial Services, combining two of the largest credit card issuers in the country, with closing targeted for late 2024 or early 2025, subject to shareholder and regulatory approval.⁠[11]

On April 18, 2025, the Federal Reserve Board, acting in coordination with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, approved Capital One’s application to merge with Discover Financial Services and fined Discover $100 million for overcharging certain interchange fees from 2007 through 2023.⁠[12]

On May 18, 2025, Capital One completed its acquisition of Discover Financial Services, adding the Discover, PULSE and Diners Club International networks. It expanded its board from 12 to 15 members with three former Discover directors and announced a $265 billion Community Benefits Plan.⁠[13]

Because S&P 500S&P 500The S&P 500 is a U.S. large-cap equity index compiled by S&P Dow Jones Indices. It includes 500 leading companies, covers about 80% of available market capitalization and is described by S&P DJI as “widely regarded as the best single gauge of large-cap U.S. equities.”Open the full entry constituent Capital One was acquiring Discover Financial Services, Coinbase GlobalCoinbaseCoinbase is a U.S. operator of crypto asset trading platforms, founded in 2012 by Brian Armstrong and Fred Ehrsam, whose listed parent is Coinbase Global, Inc.; it went public through a direct listing on Nasdaq (ticker COIN) in April 2021 and joined the S&P 500 in May 2025. It provides crypto trading, custody, staking, and stablecoin-related services, launched USDC with Circle, develops the Ethereum layer-2 network Base, and acquired the crypto options exchange Deribit in 2025; its venture investing operates as Coinbase Ventures.Open the full entry replaced Discover in the S&P 500 effective prior to the opening of trading on May 19, 2025.⁠[14]

Depositors alleged that Capital One froze 360 Savings accounts at a 0.3% rate while offering new customers much better rates on similarly named 360 Performance Savings accounts. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau filed a similar suit in January 2025 and dropped it in February. In May 2025 it agreed to pay $425 million to settle, without admitting wrongdoing.⁠[15]

U.S. District Judge David Novak rejected the original settlement, saying many depositors would recover less than 10% of their damages. A revised settlement, which adds raising the 360 Savings rate to match 360 Performance Savings to the $425 million payment, won preliminary approval in January 2026. New York Attorney General Letitia James said she would dismiss her separate lawsuit if it receives final approval and takes effect.⁠[16]

In 2025 Capital One’s total net revenue rose 37 percent to $53.4 billion and net income was $2,453 million (2024: $4,750 million), or $4.03 per diluted share. As of December 31, 2025, it had $475.8 billion in deposits and $669.0 billion in total assets.⁠[17]

As of December 31, 2025, the company had approximately 76,300 employees worldwide.⁠[18]

On January 22, 2026, Capital One announced a stock-and-cash acquisition of Brex valued at $5.15 billion. Brex is an AI-native software platform for corporate cards, expense management and real-time payments. Fairbank said: “Acquiring Brex accelerates this journey, especially in the business payments marketplace.”⁠[19]

On April 7, 2026, Capital One announced that it had completed the acquisition of Brex; Brex founder Pedro Franceschi continues as its chief executive.⁠[20]