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Text: To access the call on the internet, please log on to Capital One's website at capitalone.com and follow the links from there.
With me this evening are Mr. Richard Fairbank, Capital One's chairman and chief executive officer; and Mr. Andrew Young, Capital One's chief financial officer.
In the fourth quarter, Capital One earned 2.4 billion or $5.41 per diluted common share.
For the full year, Capital One earned 12.4 billion or $26.94 per share.
On an adjusted basis, full year earnings per share were $27.11.
Full year ROTCE was 28.4%.
Included in the results for the fourth quarter was an upgrade to a legacy rewards program, which increased our rewards liability and decreased noninterest income by $92 million.
Both period end and average loans held for investment grew 6% on a linked-quarter basis.
Ending loans grew 10% in domestic card, 7% in commercial, and 1% in consumer banking.
Revenue in the linked quarter increased 4%, driven by the loan growth I just described, while total noninterest expense increased 12% in the quarter, driven by increases in both operating and marketing expenses.
Provision expense in the quarter was 381 million and net charge offs of 527 million were partially offset by a modest allowance release.
Turning to Slide 4, I will cover the changes in our allowance in greater detail.
For the total company, we released 145 million of allowance in the fourth quarter, bringing the total allowance balance to 11.4 billion.
The total company coverage ratio now stands at 4.12%.
Turning to Slide 5, I'll discuss the allowance of each of our segments in greater detail.
As you can see in the graphs, our allowance coverage ratio declined in each of our segments.
In domestic card, the allowance balance remained flat at $8 billion.
The decline in card coverage was driven by the impact of balanced growth that I highlighted earlier.
In our consumer banking segment, continued strength in auto auction values drove a decline in both the allowance balance and the coverage ratio.
And in commercial, the decline in allowance balance was driven by modest credit improvement in the existing portfolio.
In addition to the allowance decline, the coverage ratio was also aided by growth in lower loss segments.
Turning to Page 6, I'll now discuss liquidity.
You can see, our preliminary average liquidity coverage ratio during the fourth quarter was 139%.
The LCR remains stable and continues to be well above the 100% regulatory requirement.
We continue to gradually run off excess liquidity built during the pandemic.
Relative to the prior quarter, ending cash and equivalents were down about $5 billion.
And investment securities were down about $3 billion as we used our liquidity to fund loan growth and share buybacks.
Turning to Page 7, I'll cover our net interest margin.
You can see that our fourth quarter net interest margin was 6.6%, 25 basis points higher than Q3 and 55 basis points higher than the year-ago quarter.
The linked-quarter increase in NIM was largely driven by balance sheet mix as we had a reduction in cash and securities, as well as a higher amount of card loans.
Outside of quarterly day count effects, the NIM from here will largely be a function of the change in card balances, cash and securities levels, and interest rates.
Turning to Slide 8, I will end by discussing our capital position.
Our common equity Tier 1 capital ratio was 13.1% at the end of the fourth quarter, down 70 basis points from the prior quarter.
Net income in the quarter was more than offset by share repurchases and growth in risk-weighted assets.
We continue to estimate that our CET1 capital need is around 11%.
In the fourth quarter, we repurchased $2.6 billion of common stock, which completed our $7.5 billion board authorization.
Our board of directors has approved an additional repurchase authorization of up to $5 billion of the company's common stock.
I'll begin on Slide 10 with our credit card business.
Accelerating year-over-year growth in purchase volume and loans, coupled with strong revenue margin, drove an increase in revenue compared to the fourth quarter of 2020.
Credit card segment results are largely a function of our domestic card results and trends, which are shown on Slide 11.
As you can see on Slide 11, our domestic card business posted strong growth in every top-line metric in the fourth quarter.
Purchase volume for the fourth quarter was up 29% year over year and up 30% compared to the fourth quarter of 2019.
The rebound in loan growth accelerated, with ending loan balances up $10.2 billion or about 10% year over year.
Ending loans also grew 10% from the sequential quarter, ahead of typical seasonal growth of around 4%.
Ending loan growth was the result of the strong growth in purchase volume, as well as the traction we're getting with new account origination and line increases, partially offset by continued high payment rates.
And revenue was up 15% year over year, driven by the growth in purchase volume and loans.
Domestic card revenue margin increased 123 basis points year over year to 18.1%.
Two factors drove most of the increase: revenue margin benefited from spend velocity, which is purchase volume and net interchange growth outpacing loan growth; and favorable year-over-year credit performance enabled us to recognize a higher proportion of finance charges and fees in fourth quarter revenue.
Credit results remain strikingly strong.
The domestic car charge-off rate for the quarter was 1.49%, a 120-basis-point improvement year over year.
The 30-plus delinquency rate at quarter-end was 2.22%, 20 basis points better than the prior year.
On a linked-quarter basis, the charge-off rate was up 13 basis points and the delinquency rate was up 29 basis points.
Noninterest expense was up 24% from the fourth quarter of 2020.
The biggest driver of noninterest expense was an increase in marketing.
Total company marketing expense was $999 million in the quarter.
Our choices in domestic card marketing are the biggest driver of total company marketing trends.
We continue to see attractive opportunities to grow our domestic card business, and our growth opportunities are enhanced by our technology transformation.
We continue to lean into marketing to drive growth and build our domestic card franchise.
At the same time, we're keeping a watchful eye on the competitive environment, which is intensifying.
Pulling up, our domestic card business continues to deliver significant value as we invest to grow and build our franchise.
Moving to Slide 12, strong loan growth in our consumer banking business continued in the fourth quarter.
Driven by auto, fourth quarter ending loans increased 13% year over year in the consumer banking business.
Average loans also grew 13%.
Fourth quarter auto originations were up 32% year over year.
Our digital capabilities and deep dealer relationship strategy continued to drive year-over-year growth in our auto business.
In the fourth quarter, we saw a pickup in competitive intensity in the marketplace.
On a linked-quarter basis, auto originations were down 16%.
Fourth quarter ending deposits in the consumer bank were up $6.6 billion or 3% year over year.
Average deposits were up 2% year over year.
Consumer banking revenue grew 7% from the prior-year quarter, driven by growth in auto loans, partially offset by declining auto loan yields.
Noninterest expense increased 15% year over year.
Fourth quarter provision for credit losses improved by $58 million year over year, driven by an allowance release in our auto business.
The auto charge-off rate and delinquency rate remains strong and well below pre-pandemic levels.
On a linked-quarter basis, the charge-off rate for the fourth quarter was 0.58%, up 40 basis points; and the 30-plus delinquency rate was 4.32%, up 67 basis points.
Slide 13 shows fourth quarter results for our commercial banking business, which delivered strong growth in loans, deposits, and revenue in the quarter.
Fourth quarter ending loan balances were up 12% year over year, driven by growth in selected industry specialties.
Average loans were up 8%.
Ending deposits grew 13% from the fourth quarter of 2020 as middle market and government customers continued to hold elevated levels of liquidity.
Quarterly average deposits also increased 14% year over year.
Fourth quarter revenue was up 19% from the prior-year quarter, with 29% growth in noninterest income.
Noninterest expense was up 17%.
Commercial credit performance remained strong.
In the fourth quarter, the commercial banking annualized charge-off rate was a negative 2 basis points.
The criticized performing loan rate was 6.1%, and the criticized nonperforming loan rate was 0.8%.
Our commercial banking business is delivering solid performance as we continue to build our commercial capabilities.
I'll close tonight with some thoughts on our results and our strategic positioning.
Growth momentum is evident throughout our fourth quarter results.
In the quarter, we drove strong growth in domestic card revenue, purchase volume, and loans.
We also posted strong auto and commercial growth.
Credit remains strikingly strong across our businesses, and we continue to return capital to our shareholders.
As we enter 2022, we continue to see attractive opportunities to grow our businesses and build our franchise.
We will continue to lean into marketing to capitalize on these opportunities and drive growth.
For years, we've talked about how sweeping digital change and modern technology are changing the game in banking.
Last quarter, I noted that the stakes are rising faster than ever before.
The investment flowing into fintech is breathtaking, and it's growing.
Also, many legacy companies are embracing the realization that technology capabilities may be an existential issue for them and are increasing technology investments.
The war for tech talent continues to escalate, which is driving up tech labor costs even before any headcount increases.
All these developments underscore the significant opportunity for players who have modern technology and who are in a position to drive growth.
Capital One is very well positioned to do that.
We've spent years driving our technology transformation from the bottom of the tech stack up.
We were an original fintech, and we have built modern technology infrastructure and capabilities at scale.
And we're investing to leverage these capabilities to grow and to realize the many benefits of our digital transformation.
We have been on a long journey to drive our operating efficiency ratio down.
We expect that the striking rise in the cost of modern tech talent, on top of our growth investment, will pressure annual operating efficiency in the near term.
But these pressures do not change our belief in the longer-term opportunity to drive operating efficiency improvement powered by revenue growth and digital productivity gains.
Pulling way up, we're living through an extraordinary time of digital change.
Our modern technology stack is powering our performance and our growth opportunity.
It's setting us up to capitalize on the accelerating digital revolution in banking.
And it's the engine that drives enduring value creation over the long term.
We'll now start the Q&A session.
As a courtesy to other investors and analysts who may wish to ask a question, please limit yourself to one question plus a single follow-up question.
And if you have follow-up questions after the Q&A, the investor relations team will be available after the call.
Justin, please start the Q&A.

user
compname reports fourth quarter 2021 net income of $2.4 billion.
q4 revenue rose 4% to $8.1 billion.
qtrly net interest margin of 6.60%, up 25 basis points versus q3.
compname reports fourth quarter 2021 net income of $2.4 billion, or $5.41 per share.
compname says common equity tier 1 capital ratio under basel iii standardized approach of 13.1 percent at december 31, 2021.
qtrly earnings per share $5.41.
qtrly provision for credit losses increased $723 million to $381 million versus q3 2021.

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