Capital One to bring 600 jobs

[MichaelC]

Tulsa World

quote:Capital One Auto Finance plans to open a loan servicing operation site at the Cherokee Industrial Park in Tulsa and will start hiring managers immediately.

Sources say the new facility is expected to result in 600 jobs over time.

More details will be released at a Thursday morning news conference.

Capital One Auto Finance Inc. is the second largest independent auto lender in the United States and the nation's largest direct mail and online vehicle financing provider.

The full-spectrum auto lender is a subsidiary of McLean, Va.-based Capital One Financial Corp. -- a broadly diversified financial services company with operations in the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada.

"We conducted an extensive process to select the Tulsa site," said Capital One spokeswoman Julie Rakes by telephone from Richmond, Va. "This location best meets our criteria for growth."

The new loan servicing facility will move into space that already exists at the Cherokee Industrial Park. The Tulsa site is an additional facility for the auto lender, which already employs more than 2,800 people at its Plano, Texas, headquarters.

All of the jobs being created in Tulsa are new jobs, said Rakes. They will include
managers, customer service and collection associates, she said.

"Capital One's selection of Tulsa is significant to the diversity of our economy and certainly to our growing reputation as a major competitor in economic development," Dan Ellinor, vice chairman of the board of directors for the Tulsa Metro Chamber and senior executive vice president for Bank of Oklahoma, said in a prepared statement.

Capital One's announcement brings the area a step closer to the Tulsa Metro Chamber's goal of establishing 26,000 new jobs through its Tulsa's Future initiative, Ellinor noted.

Launched a year ago, Tulsa's Future is a five-year economic development initiative that aims to create 10,000 primary jobs in the metro area with a targeted average annual wage of $45,535, and 16,000 secondary jobs with an average annual wage of more than $28,600.

Capital One Auto Finance expects to start hiring immediately for the manager positions and will begin selecting other positions by late July, Rakes said.

Salary details were not provided.

People may start applying for Capital One positions by going to the company's Web site at www.capitalone.com and clicking on "careers."

"We're pleased to be coming to Tulsa, partnering with the city of Tulsa and taking advantage of the talented and the high-quality labor pool," Rakes said.

Dave Lawson, president and chief executive officer for Capital One Auto Finance, will be attending Thursday's news conference, along with State Treasurer Scott Meacham, Mayor Kathy Taylor and other dignitaries.

As one of the largest customer franchises in America, Capital One has about 50 million customer accounts and more than 300 locations throughout Louisiana and Texas.

The Fortune 500 company offers a wide variety of financial services, including credit cards, auto loans, small business loans, home equity loans, installment loans, and deposit and savings products.

Capital One's subsidiaries collectively had $47.8 billion in deposits and $103.9 billion in managed loans outstanding at the end of March.