Capital One Financial Corporation

Capital One Financial Corporation is an American bank holding company headquartered in Tysons, Virginia, with operations in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom.[1] One of the largest banks in the United States, it is the largest issuer of credit cards in the United States, and is one of the largest car finance companies in the U.S. It owns the Discover Card, Diners Club, and Pulse payment networks.[1] The company's three business segments are credit cards, consumer banking, and commercial banking.[1] It has approximately 750 bank branches, including over 60 café style locations,[2][3] and 7,000 ATMs in the United States. The company's corporate headquarters are in the Capital One Tower and its European headquarters are in Trent House, Nottingham.

The company is ranked 82nd on the Fortune 500.[4]

The company helped pioneer the mass marketing of credit cards in the 1990s.[5][6]

History[edit]1994–2004

Capital One retail footprint as of 2010

Richard Fairbank and Nigel Morris developed the idea of using information technology and statistical analysis to create customized credit card offers for different segments of customers in 1987. At the time, most credit cards would offer the same terms—interest rate and annual fee—to almost everyone, regardless of the financial risks of each customer.[7] However, Fairbank and Morris' idea was to drop the fee and target various credit card terms to specific customers. They consulted with Oracle Corporation on how to compile the demographics and other statistics that would help them sort out and identify those customer market segments.

They then started soliciting banks regarding using their approach, indicating that they anticipated large profits based on the large numbers of Customers they projected to enroll.[9][10] They convinced Richmond, Virginia-based Signet Bank to start a credit card division called Signet Financial in 1988 that would utilize their approach. As part of the deal, they became employees of Signet.