Capital One

Capital One is a financial technology company offering consumer and commercial banking services that is headquartered in McLean, Virginia and was founded in 1994 by Nigel Morris and Richard Fairbank. The company specializes in credit cards, auto loans, banking, and savings accounts. It has branches in New York, Texas, Maryland, the District of Columbia, New Jersey, and Louisiana. The company has three divisions: Capital One Credit Card, Capital one 360 — Consumer Banking, and Capital One Commercial banking.

In 1988, Richard Fairbank and Nigel Morris founded Signet Financial with the help of Signet Bank. Signet Financial would later become Oakstone Financial when Fairbank became CEO of the company on July 27, 1994. The company was renamed to Capital One in October 1994, and focused the majority of its efforts on the credit card industry. In 1996 the company received permission from the United States government to retain and lend deposits on their secured cards and issue automobile loans, and also expanded its business operations to the United Kingdom. In 1977 Capital One had approximately 9 million customers and held an estimated $12.6 billion worth of credit card receivables.

In 2005 Capital One acquired Hibernia National Bank for $4.9 billion in cash and stock.

In 2006 Capital One acquired North Fork Bank for $13.2 billion.

In 2007 Capital One acquired Netspend for $700 million.

In 2009 Capital One acquired Chevy Chase Bank for $520 million.

In 2011 Capital One acquired IDG Direction for $9 billion.

In 2015 Capital One acquired General Electric's Healthcare Financial Services unit for $9 billion.

Capital One (NYSE:COF) held their IPO on November 25, 1994.

During the 2008 financial crisis Capital One received $3.65 billion from the US Treasury through the Trouble Asset Relief Program.

Capital One has made 15 investments, lead 5 of those investments (IQEA, DTT, Computer Science University of Maryland, Liberty SBF, and Cedar Realty Trust) and has made 5 exits (Transactis, Iron Planet, Stag Industrial, True Car, and Cedar Realty Trust.