TORONTO (Standard&Poor's) Jan. 21, 2011--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that its ratings on Capital One Financial Corp. (BBB/Negative/--) are not affected by the company's fourth-quarter 2010 earnings. Capital One posted income from continuing operations of $701 million compared with $818 million in the previous quarter. The decline in earnings was primarily due to an $86 million reduction in net interest income as a result of lower late fees resulting from the implementation of the CARD Act and an increase of $95 million in noninterest expenses, mainly marketing related. The net interest margin slipped by 26 basis points sequentially to 6.95% due to lower asset yields and a slight asset mix shift from loans to investments. Asset
