FALLS CHURCH, Va., Jan. 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Thomas E. Emerson is joining Capital One Corporation (NYSE: COF) as Senior Vice President and Chief Auditor, effective January 15. Previously, Emerson was Executive Vice President and General Auditor at Wells Fargo & Company. Emerson will report to the Audit Committee of Capital One's Board of Directors and report administratively to John G. Finneran, Capital One's Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, and he will be responsible for both the global audit and security functions of the company.

Dale Bateman, currently Capital One's General Auditor, will move into a new audit-related function at Capital One.

"We are pleased to welcome a veteran banker with such deep, global audit experience as Tom Emerson," said Finneran. "Dale has created a solid internal audit function on which Tom will build. Tom will apply his experience at large, diversified financial institutions toward shaping our audit and security infrastructure in a way that will support Capital One's future growth."

"This is another milestone in our journey toward achieving world class risk management and controls and corporate governance practices at Capital One," Finneran added.

Emerson's entire thirty-year career in banking has been devoted to performing audit roles of steadily increasing responsibility. During this time he gained wide experience in meeting the challenge of integrating audit and risk management into the leadership agendas and governance cultures of his former organizations. Prior to Wells Fargo, he was executive vice president, chief auditor and chief examiner for Norwest Corporation, which he joined in 1986. Emerson was recruited to Norwest from Bank of America, which he joined in 1970, where he was Vice President and Deputy Chief Auditor for the World Banking Audit Division. Emerson's experience includes international positions in both Latin America and the Pacific Rim, and he holds a bachelor's degree in business administration from the University of Phoenix.

Throughout his career, Emerson has been active in the Institute of Internal Auditors, the American Bankers Association, and the Association of Certified Fraud Examiner. SOURCE Capital One Financial Corporation

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CONTACT: Tatiana Stead, Dir. of Corporate Media of Capital One Corporation, +1-703-205-1070