FALLS CHURCH, Va., Jan. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- For the third year in a row, Capital One Financial Corporation (NYSE: COF) ranked in Fortune's listing of the "100 Best Companies to Work for in America." Capital One ranked 52.

"We created Capital One with the vision of being a great place to work -- a place that challenges people to develop and use their talents, and gives them the training, tools, and work environment they need to do their best. By every measure, it's working," said Richard D. Fairbank, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "We remain committed to building on this success and committed to building an environment that fosters teamwork, open communication and entrepreneurship."

Fortune collaborated with best-selling authors Robert Levering and Milton Moskowitz to compile the list. Levering and Moskowitz, who have been tracking the best companies since 1981, searched their database of more than 1,000 companies and selected 234 companies as the most viable candidates for this list. Then, employees from each company -- more than 36,000 -- were surveyed. Randomly chosen Capital One associates completed the survey, which is designed to evaluate trust in management, pride in work and camaraderie.

Capital One employs more than 19,000 associates worldwide. The company hired more than 3,000 associates (net) in 2000 alone and recently announced plans to hire 8,000 more over the next four years. Among the programs that differentiate the company from other employers are the associate selection process; a number of ongoing training and development courses; outstanding benefits, including three weeks vacation; and entrepreneurial compensation.

"We have developed methods to not only attract and select the most talented people to work at Capital One, but more importantly to keep them," said Dennis Liberson, Executive Vice President for Human Resources. "Being named to this prestigious list three years in a row signifies us as one of the truly elite places to work, and demonstrates that we've designed a long term model for success."

Capital One has operations in Richmond, Fredericksburg and Falls Church, Virginia; Dallas, Fort Worth and Plano, Texas; Tampa, Florida; Federal Way, Washington; Boise, Idaho; and Boston, Massachusetts; as well as London and Nottingham, United Kingdom.

Headquartered in Falls Church, Virginia, Capital One Financial Corporation (www.CapitalOne.com) is a holding company whose principal subsidiaries, Capital One Bank and Capital One, F.S.B., offer consumer lending products. Capital One's subsidiaries collectively had 33.8 million accounts and $29.5 billion in managed loans outstanding as of December 31, 2000. Capital One is one of the major financial service providers on the Internet, with online account decisioning, real-time account numbering, online retail deposits and a growing number of customers serviced online. Capital One is a FORTUNE 500 company that trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "COF" and is included in the S&P 500 index. SOURCE Capital One Financial Corporation

CONTACT: Hamilton Holloway of Capital One Financial Corporation, 804-934-5900 or hamilton.holloway@capitalone.com/