NEW YORK (Standard&Poor's) April 20, 2012--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services today said its ratings and outlook on Capital One Financial Corp. (COF; BBB/Negative/--) are unchanged following its review of the company's good first-quarter 2012 earnings, which were within our expectations. The company posted Standard&Poor's-adjusted pretax earnings of $1.26 billion, up from $571 million the previous quarter but down from $1.39 billion in first-quarter 2011. Excluding the recently closed acquisition of ING Direct USA (INGD), revenue rose 5.3% from the fourth quarter and 4.5% year over year as a result of a higher average loan balance and favorable margins. The net interest margin (NIM) declined roughly 100 basis points versus the fourth quarter, reflecting INGD's lower-yielding assets
