WILMINGTON – Capital One has committed to expanding its Delaware workforce by 500 jobs, Governor Jack Markell, Delaware’s Congressional Delegation and Delaware Economic Development Office Director Alan Levin announced this morning.

“Capital One is a bank on the move, actively expanding its workforce and offerings. There are talented, driven and experienced Delawareans ready to get to work each day to help them move forward,” Markell said. “Delaware understands and appreciates the critical importance of a strong financial services industry – both to our state and to the strength of our national economy. Capital One’s decision reflects our commitment to this important industry.”

The bank cited the state’s responsiveness, the quality of its workforce, its public officials’ active involvement in recruiting them and Delaware’s commitment to their industry as some of the factors that contributed to their decision to choose Delaware for expansion.

“We’re incredibly excited about coming to Delaware. We expect to bring hundreds of new, high quality jobs to the state and to become an active and engaged part of the Delaware business community,” said Richard D. Fairbank, Chairman and CEO of Capital One.

In June, Capital One announced its plans to acquire Delaware-headquartered ING Direct USA for $9 billion. In August, Capital One subsequently announced its plans to acquire HSBC’s domestic credit card business in a transaction valued at approximately $2.6 billion. HSBC’s domestic card business also employs Delawareans. The 500 jobs announced today would be in addition to all of the ING and HSBC employees that would become Capital One employees after the acquisitions.

“The people of ING Direct are amazingly talented and they have created a special company and customer experience. Working with ING Direct’s people, we are confident we can help them build on that success and continue to grow the franchise and expand our Delaware operations. The support of Governor Markell, his administration, and Delaware’s congressional delegation, Senator Carper, Senator Coons and Congressman Carney, has been instrumental in our decision to bring additional jobs to Delaware.”

As part of the expansion agreement, Capital One will receive a Delaware Strategic Fund Job Creation Incentive of $5.6 million dollars and a Capital Improvements and Equipment Cash Incentive equal to 3 percent of the total capital expenditures the bank makes for their new Wilmington facility, up to a maximum rebate of $1.5 million dollars. The funding is contingent on approval by the Council on Development Finance. It is also subject to the final approval and closing of the acquisition of the company’s planned acquisitions of ING Direct and HSBC. Under the agreement, the 500 new jobs must be in place by December 2013.

“Capital One recognized the value of our existing industry and talented workforce,” said Levin. “With the state’s investment, we will secure the company’s commitment to our state, resulting in hundreds of jobs for Delawareans.”

Delaware’s Congressional Delegation were active advocates on the state’s behalf as Capital One considered where to make this move. Each made clear the value to the bank in choosing the First State and each today offered strong support of the bank’s decision.

“This is welcome news for Delawareans and our community,” said Senator Tom Carper. “In a time where thousands of Delawareans are unemployed, I am encouraged that Capital One has decided to expand its operation to Delaware and invest in the First State and its strong workforce, creating hundreds of good-paying jobs. The Governor’s and his team’s leadership on this is to be commended. Capitol One has the opportunity to build on the strong foundation that ING Direct started ING Direct has made a far-reaching impact in the Delaware community and we look forward to Capital One continuing this tradition.”

“Delaware’s workforce is among the most talented in the world, so Capital One’s decision to expand here is a smart one,” Senator Chris Coons said. “Still, this is exciting news for Delaware. These are high-quality, high-paying jobs — the kind that we are constantly working to bring here. I thank Governor Markell for his leadership in bringing these jobs to Delaware, and will continue to work with him and my colleagues in the delegation to create even more of these job opportunities here in Delaware.”

“I was very pleased to learn that not only would all of ING’s positions in Delaware be retained through the merger, but that an additional 500 good quality, well-paying jobs would be added to our workforce,” said Congressman Carney. “The announcement of these new jobs coming to Delaware is testament to the strong partnerships that ING, Capital One, and all levels of government in the state have been able to maintain. ING has always been an excellent corporate citizen in Delaware, and I look forward to a similar relationship with our new partners at Capital One.”

“Delaware is blessed to have one of the hardest working delegations in the nation. They make clear every day that a critical part of their work is helping people get to work. They helped make the case to Capital One that Delaware is a great place to grow a business,” Markell said.

About Capital One
Capital One Financial Corporation (www.capitalone.com) is a financial holding company whose subsidiaries, which include Capital One, N.A. and Capital One Bank (USA), N.A., had $126.1 billion in deposits and $199.8 billion in total assets outstanding as of June 30, 2011. Headquartered in McLean, Virginia, Capital One offers a broad spectrum of financial products and services to consumers, small businesses and commercial clients. Capital One, N.A. has approximately 1,000 branch locations primarily in New York, New Jersey, Texas, Louisiana, Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia. A Fortune 500 company, Capital One trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “COF” and is included in the S&P 100 index.

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