Capital One's subprime auto business comes under government scrutiny

Capital One Financial Corp said it had received a subpoena from the New York district attorney's office about its subprime auto finance practices.

The McLean, Virginia-based company made the disclosure late on Monday in a quarterly filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Its shares fell less than 1 percent on Tuesday.

Capital One is the latest lender to disclose a government probe into its subprime auto lending business. Santander Consumer USA Holdings Inc; Ally Financial Inc; and GM Financial, the in-house financing arm of General Motors Co, have also received subpoenas from various law enforcement authorities and regulators.

The bank is the third-largest U.S. auto lender behind Wells Fargo & Co and Ally, according to Experian Automotive. In the used-car market, which tends to have more subprime borrowers than the new-vehicle business, only Wells Fargo has a larger market share than Capital One.

Capital One started making auto loans in 1998 after acquiring subprime finance company Summit Acceptance Corp and has since tried to balance its business with more loans to creditworthy borrowers, Chief Executive Officer Richard Fairbank said on the bank's third-quarter earnings call in October.

"When you think about the economics of the (auto finance) business, subprime has high margins and higher losses," Fairbank said on the call. "This is not for the faint of heart."

Shares of Capital One were down 0.7 percent at $82.08 in morning trading.

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Capital One Financial Corp, The McLean, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Wells Fargo & Co., ally

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