On Oct. 21, 2003, Standard&Poor's Ratings Services affirmed its outstanding ratings on Capital One Financial Corp. (Capital One) and its subsidiaries, including Capital One's long-term counterparty credit rating of 'BB+'. The outlook remains negative. Capital One's ratings reflect the relative risk inherent in its high concentration of consumer credit card lending and a relatively limited funding diversity that is dominated by securitizations. Furthermore, Standard&Poor's has maintained a concern regarding the company's history of growth rates that often outpace those of the rest of the sector. Capital One's asset quality measures deteriorated as it grew its subprime receivable, which then seasoned. More recently, the asset quality trends have improved. Standard and Poor's recognizes that asset quality measures,
