Almost 15 months after its announcement, Capital One Financial Corp.’s takeover of Discover Financial Services was officially completed on Sunday, creating the largest credit-card issuer by loan volume in the US.
Armed with Discover’s payments network, which competes with those of Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc., Capital One is poised to capture an even greater share of spending on credit and debit cards that Americans so heavily rely upon.
“We are well-positioned to continue our quest to change banking for good for millions of customers,” Capital One Chief Executive Officer Richard Fairbank said in a statement.
The acquisition wasn’t assured, given the last presidential administration’s skepticism of mergers — and especially those involving finance firms. Bank dealmaking activity was stunted during Joe Biden’s presidency, and some Congressional Democrats opposed the Capital One takeover of Discover, saying it may harm consumers and put the stability of the US financial system at risk.
With Donald Trump now in the Oval Office, the Federal Reserve and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency approved the deal last month after the US Department of Justice decided not to challenge it.
But the approval came with stipulations: the OCC mandated that Capital One outline the corrective actions it planned to take to address Discover’s outstanding enforcement actions. In 2023, the firm disclosed that, starting in 2007, it had been charging merchants more than it should have to accept payments on certain credit cards.
In connection with the acquisition, Capital One is expanding its board of directors to 15 members from 12.
Capital One and Discover customer accounts and banking relationships remain unchanged for now, and information in advance of any forthcoming changes will be provided, according to the statement.
— By Paige Smith (Bloomberg)
