Capital One hiring 500 in Delaware, getting millions in incentives

Capital One Financial Corp. has committed to expanding its Delaware work force by 500 jobs, state officials said Monday morning.

In June, Capital One announced its plans to acquire Delaware-based ING Direct USA for $9 billion. In August, it said it would acquire HSBC’s domestic credit-card business for $2.6 billion. HSBC’s domestic card business also employs Delawareans.

The 500 jobs announced Monday would be in addition to all of the ING and HSBC employees that would become Capital One employees after the acquisitions.

As part of the expansion agreement, Capital One will receive a Delaware Strategic Fund Job Creation Incentive of $5.6 million and a Capital Improvements and Equipment Cash Incentive equal to 3 percent of the total capital expenditures the bank makes for its new Wilmington facility, up to a maximum rebate of $1.5 million. The funding is contingent on approval by the Delaware Council on Development Finance. Under the agreement, the 500 new jobs must be in place by December 2013.

A Capital One spokesman said the jobs will entail a wide variety of functions including retail banking, information technology, human resources and risk management. Two separate sources familiar with the situation said the jobs will pay an average of at least $135,000.

McLean, Va.-based Capital One (NYSE:COF) is parent to Capital One NA and Capital One Bank (USA) NA. It had $126.1 billion in deposits and $199.8 billion in total assets as of June 30. Capital One NA has about 1,000 branch locations primarily in New York, New Jersey, Texas, Louisiana, Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia.

Banks Announce 100,000 Job Cuts

Banks are shedding jobs worldwide as stricter regulations and a tough second quarter for trading income take their toll on investment banking units in particular.

Bank of America on Monday said it would cut 30,000 jobs and slash annual expenses by $5 billion.

The layoff plan brings staff cuts announced this year or reported to be in the works at U.S. and European banks to just under 100,000, some of them to be lost over three- or four-year programmes.

Many, including Royal Bank of Scotland , Lloyds Banking Group , Citigroup and Bank of America, had already cut thousands of jobs after the financial crisis.

This year's job cut estimates are also likely to be conservative figures, as not all banks trimming teams have publicly announced lay-offs, and the number does not take into account smaller investment banks, boutiques and brokers.

Following is a summary of cuts announced by major banks:

	Jobs to be cut	Total staff*
HSBC	30,000	295,995
BANK OF AMERICA MERRILL LYNCH	30,000	287,839
LLOYDS BANKING GROUP	15,000	103,859
UBS	3,500	65,707
BARCLAYS	3,000	146,100
INTESA SANPAOLO	3,000	101,169
ABN AMRO	2,350	26,161
MONTE DEI PASCHI DI SIENA	c.2,200	31,201
NORDEA	2,000	34,169
ROYAL BANK OF SCOTLAND	c.2,000	148,300
CREDIT SUISSE	2,000	50,700
BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON	1,500	48,900
RABOBANK	1,200	59,000
BANCO POPOLARE	1,120	19,209
GOLDMAN SACHS	1,000	35,500

* According to latest available figure, usually end 2010 or mid-year reports