Capital One’s fourth-quarter profit jumps on interest income boost

Jan 21 (Reuters) – Capital One Financial reported a 60% rise in fourth-quarter profit on Tuesday, as a higher income from interests helped the consumer lender.

Consumer spending has remained strong on hopes of a soft landing for the economy and falling interest rates, helping companies like Capital One rake in more from interest payments on credit card debt.

The credit card business makes up nearly half of the loan portfolio of Capital One, which is one of the largest issuers of Visa and Mastercard credit cards in the United States by balances.

The McLean, Virginia-based company’s net interest income — the spread between interest earned on loans and paid out to customers on deposits — increased nearly 8% in the fourth quarter to about $8.1 billion.

Capital One, which is acquiring Discover Financial for $35.3 billion in an all-stock deal, said provision for credit losses fell to $2.64 billion from $2.86 billion a year earlier.

“Our fourth quarter results included steady top-line growth in our domestic card business, strong originations and a return to loan growth in our auto business, and stable credit results across our businesses,” CEO Richard Fairbank said in a statement.

Capital One’s non-interest income, which primarily consists of interchange income, net of reward expenses, service charges and other customer-related fees, rose 5% to $2.09 billion.

Capital One’s net income available to common stockholders rose to $1.02 billion, or $2.67 per share, in the three months ended Dec. 31, from $639 million, or $1.67 per share, a year earlier.

Shares of the company rose 36% in 2024.

The consumer lender was sued last week by the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which accused the bank of illegally cheating customers who held its flagship “high interest” savings account out of more than $2 billion in interest payments.

Capital One denied the CFPB’s claims, however, and added that they will defend themselves in court.

(Reporting by Pritam Biswas in Bengaluru; Editing by Alan Barona)