Capital One news and trends

CFPB Head Wary of Big Credit Card Mergers
Credit Cards // April 24, 2024

America’s leading consumer finance watchdog is skeptical about giant mergers between credit card companies. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Director Rohit Chopra expressed these worries in a Wednesday (April 24) interview with the Financial Times (FT), at a time when Capital One is working to complete its $35 billion purchase of Discover. “There...

Discover Financial: Inflation Is Pressuring Lower Income Consumers
Earnings // April 18, 2024

The $35 billion deal for Capital One to buy Discover Financial Services remains on track. And in a truncated first-quarter earnings call — where the usual question-and-answer session was not part of the proceedings — Discover’s management noted that consumer loans are on the upswing....

Nuvei Sale Hints at Private Deals and Consolidation in Payments’ Future
Partnerships / Acquisitions // April 02, 2024

2019, the year of the payments industry mega-deals, seems long ago and far away. Before the pandemic, the headlines were awash in waves of verticalization, where large firms scooped up other large firms for tens of billions of dollars. FIS bought Worldpay for a staggering $43 billion. Fiserv bought First Data for more than $22...

‘Mega-Deals’ More Than Double Following M&A Drought
Acquisitions // March 28, 2024

After a drought, the merger and acquisition (M&A) landscape is in bloom. Major M&A deals — agreements worth at least $10 billion — more than doubled during the first quarter of this year, the Financial Times reported Thursday (March 28), citing data from the London Stock Exchange Group....

Interviews & Exclusives
Nuvei Sale Hints at Private Deals and Consolidation in Payments’ Future

April 02, 2024
2019, the year of the payments industry mega-deals, seems long ago and far away. Before the pandemic, the headlines were awash in waves of verticalization, where large firms scooped up other large firms for tens of billions of dollars. FIS bought Worldpay for a staggering $43 billion. Fiserv bought First Data for more than $22 billion. Global Payments added TSYS to its roster for nearly $22 billion. Much has happened […]

Thredd’s McCarthy: Capital One-Discover Deal Will Transcend Market Share Grab

February 29, 2024
The news that Capital One has launched a $35 billion bid to acquire Discover Financial has shaken up the financial services industry. Jim McCarthy, CEO of Thredd, told Karen Webster...

Capital One/Discover Combo Could Create Financial Ecosystem for Paycheck-to-Paycheck Consumers

February 20, 2024
In any industry, a $35 billion deal is, of course … a big deal. But in financial services, the news that Capital One has set the stage to buy Discover...

Private-Label Card Pressures May Signal Spending Pullback

January 30, 2024
Where there’s smoke, there’s fire, goes the old aphorism. In the credit card space, and within the private-label subset of that industry, the flames are not here yet, although wisps...

Quick Reads
CFPB Head Wary of Big Credit Card Mergers

April 24, 2024
America’s leading consumer finance watchdog is skeptical about giant mergers between credit card companies. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Director Rohit Chopra expressed these worries in a Wednesday (April 24) interview with the Financial Times (FT), at a time when Capital One is working to complete its $35 billion purchase of Discover. “There will need to be careful scrutiny of two quite large […]

‘Mega-Deals’ More Than Double Following M&A Drought

March 28, 2024
After a drought, the merger and acquisition (M&A) landscape is in bloom. Major M&A deals — agreements worth at least $10 billion — more than doubled during the first quarter of this...

Ally Financial Names Discover Chief Michael Rhodes as CEO

March 27, 2024
Ally Financial has announced that Michael G. Rhodes will become its new CEO and will be appointed to the board of directors on April 29. Rhodes has just resigned as the CEO of...

Capital One May Appeal Ruling on Walmart Credit Card Partnership

March 26, 2024
A federal judge ruled Tuesday (March 26) that Walmart can end its credit card partnership with Capital One early because the bank did not provide the level of service required by the companies’ 2018...