McLEAN, Va. — Sharing its third-quarter results late last week, Capital One announced that its auto loans declined further due to earlier efforts to "retrench and reposition" its auto finance business.

More specifically, loans declined by $667.3 million, or 3.3 percent, to $19.6 billion. In the first quarter, auto loans stood at $20.795 billion. In the third quarter of last year, auto loans for the company came in at $22.319 billion.

The managed net charge rate came in at 4.38 percent, an increase of 73 basis points over the second quarter. The 30-day delinquency rate on auto loans was 9.52 percent, compared with 8.89 percent in the previous quarter and 9.31 in the third quarter of last year.

During the third quarter, Capital One said it realigned its business segment reporting structure to "better reflect the manner in which the performance of the company's operations is evaluated."

"The company now reports the results of its business though three operating segments: Credit Card, Commercial Banking and Consumer Banking," officials stated.

Discussing the Consumer Banking segment results, which include auto finance, officials explained, "The mortgage portfolio and the auto finance business were the key drivers of Consumer Banking credit results and profitability."

Overall, the Consumer Banking unit reported net income of $184.6 million. Revenue grew by $56.5 million, with officials pointing to improvements across the segment.

"Provision expense declined $46 million, driven by an allowance release in the auto finance business," executives highlighted.

Non-interest expense for the business segment dropped $43.4 million.

Average loans for the Banking segment declined $1.7 billion, or 4 percent, to $41.3 billion during the quarter. The company noted that mortgage loans fell as it experienced an expected runoff in the portfolio.

Average deposits, meanwhile, dropped $1 billion, or 1.4 percent, to $73.3 billion during the quarter from $74.3 billion during the second quarter.

As for the managed net charge-off for the business segment, this increased 46 basis points to 2.67 percent from 2.21 percent in the second quarter.

On a company-wide basis, Capital One posted net income of $425.6 million, compared with second quarter net income of $224.2 million.

"We've worked for years to position our company to be resilient and our third-quarter results demonstrate that resiliency in the midst of the most challenging economic cycle we've seen in generations," explained Richard Fairbank, chairman and chief executive officer.

"We are successfully weathering the storm, but the storm is not over. Therefore, we will continue to take the decisive actions necessary to place our company in the best position to navigate the downturn and drive shareholder value over the cycle," he continued.

Meanwhile, Gary Perlin, chief financial officer, added, "Despite continued credit pressures, Capital One posted solid growth in both revenues and bottom-line profits in the third quarter. Our strong balance sheet is supported by healthy reserve levels and a tangible common equity ratio that grew to 6.2 percent, which positions the company against downside risk while enabling future growth."