WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Securities and Exchange Commission on
Thursday charged Capital One and two senior executives for understating
millions of dollars in auto loan losses incurred during the months leading into
the financial crisis.

Officials said an SEC investigation found that in financial
reporting for the second and third quarters of 2007, Capital One failed to
properly account for losses in its auto finance business when they became
higher than originally forecasted.

The SEC determined the profitability of Capital One's auto
loan business was primarily derived from extending credit to subprime
consumers. As credit markets began to deteriorate, Capital One's internal loss
forecasting tool found that the declining credit environment had a significant
impact on its loan loss expense.

However, federal regulators said Capital One failed to
properly incorporate these internal assessments into its financial reporting,
and thus understated its loan loss expense by approximately 18 percent in the
second quarter and 9 percent in the third quarter.

The SEC indicated Capital One agreed to pay $3.5 million to
settle the agency's charges.

Officials added the two executives — former chief risk officer
Peter Schnall and former divisional credit officer David LaGassa — also agreed
to settle the charges against them.

"Accurate financial reporting is a fundamental obligation
for any public company, particularly a bank's accounting for its provision for
loan losses during a time of severe financial distress," said George Canellos,
co-director of the SEC's division of enforcement.

"Capital One failed in this responsibility by underreporting
expenses relating to its loan losses even as its own internal forecasting tool
had signaled an increase in incurred losses due to the impending financial
crisis," Canellos said.

According to the SEC's order instituting settled
administrative proceedings, beginning in October 2006 and continuing through
the third quarter of 2007, Capital One Auto Finance experienced significantly
higher charge-offs and delinquencies for its auto loans than it had originally
forecast. The elevated losses occurred within every type of loan in each of
company's lines of business.

Officials determined Capital One's internal loss forecasting
tool assessed that its escalating loss variances were attributable to an
increase in a forecasting factor it called the "exogenous." SEC officials
explained the term was used to measure the impact on credit losses from
conditions external to the business such as macroeconomic conditions.

The SEC found a change in this exogenous factor generally
had a significant impact on Capital One's auto loan loss expense, and it was
closely monitored by the company through its loss forecasting tool.

"Capital One determined that incorporating the full
exogenous levels into its loss forecast would have resulted in a second quarter
allowance build of $72 million by year-end. Since no such expense was
incorporated for the second quarter, it would have resulted in a third quarter
allowance build of $85 million by year-end," officials said.

However, according to the SEC's order, instead of
incorporating the results of its loss forecasting tool, Capital One failed to
include any of its auto finance exogenous-driven losses in its second quarter
provision for loan losses and included only one-third of such losses in the
third quarter.

The SEC said the exogenous losses were an integral component
of Capital One's methodology for calculating its provision for loan losses. As
a result, the agency found Capital One's second and third quarter loan loss
expense for its auto loans did not appropriately estimate probable incurred
losses in accordance with accounting requirements.

The SEC's order also found that Schnall and LaGassa caused
Capital One's understatements of its loan loss expense by deviating from
established policies and procedures and failing to implement proper internal
controls for determining its loan loss expense.

Officials determined Schnall, who oversaw Capital One's
credit management function, took inadequate steps to communicate the auto
finance division's exogenous treatment to the senior management committee in
charge of ensuring that the company's allowance was compliant with accounting
requirements.

Despite warnings, the SEC said Schnall also failed to ensure
that the exogenous treatment was properly documented.

Furthermore, the agency said LaGassa, who managed the auto
finance loss forecasting process, failed to ensure that the proper exogenous
levels were incorporated into the vehicle loan loss forecast.

The SEC said LaGassa also failed to ensure that the
exogenous treatment was documented consistent with policies and procedures.

"Financial institutions, especially those engaged in subprime
lending practices, must have rigorous controls surrounding their process for
estimating loan losses to prevent material misstatements of those expenses,"
said Gerald Hodgkins, the SEC's associate director of the division of
enforcement.

"The SEC will not tolerate deficient controls surrounding an
issuer's financial reporting obligations, including quarterly reporting
obligations," Hodgkins continued.

The agency noted Capital One's material understatements of
its loan loss expense and internal controls failures violated the reporting,
books and records, and internal controls provisions of the federal securities
laws, namely Sections 13(a), 13(b)(2)(A), and 13(b)(2)(B) of the Securities
Exchange Act of 1934 and Rules 12b-20 and 13a-13.

The SEC also said Schnall and LaGassa caused Capital One's
violations of Section 13(a), 13(b)(2)(A), and 13(b)(2)(B) of the Exchange Act
and Rule 13a-13 thereunder and violated Exchange Act Rule 13b2-1 by indirectly
causing Capital One's books and records violations.

Officials indicated Schnall agreed to pay an $85,000 penalty
and LaGassa agreed to pay a $50,000 penalty to settle the SEC's charges.

The SEC added that Capital One and the two executives neither
admitted nor denied the findings in consenting to the SEC's order requiring
them to cease and desist from committing or causing any violations of these
federal securities laws.

The SEC's investigation was conducted by senior counsel
Anita Bandy and assistant chief accountant Amanda deRoo and supervised by
assistant director Conway Dodge.

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