The company, best known for its credit cards, is looking to expand its direct banking business.
"It gave us a chance to lead the digital-banking revolution, " Jon Witter, Capital One president of retail and direct banking, says of the ING deal.
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But the RBI will celebrate many more birthdays before foreigners can take a more direct stake in Indian banking.
That program rests on direct intervention in the banking system that would have seemed inconceivable only a few weeks ago.
They typically like more transparency and control of their accounts and are more technologically savvy, said Dean Athanasia, head of the banking and direct investment division in Bank of America's wealth group.
The organisation is a master of such long-established communication techniques as direct mailing, phone-banking and talk radio.
Qatari authorities throughout the financial crisis sought to protect the local banking sector with direct investments into domestic banks.
But with more than 20 call centres now based there, all competing for staff, First Direct's Internet and banking manager Tim Basford says the city may be becoming a victim of its own success.
Tesco to Metro Bank to PayPal and all-electronic banking organizations like First Direct.
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First Direct is the company that brought us telephone banking in 1989.
But our correspondent said further direct government investment in the banks - a new banking bail out - seems less likely, although given the scale of the crisis this option has not been definitively ruled out.
Another example was that entire breakdown of the computing systems (and thus bill payments, direct debits and even ATM machines) at the same banking group a month or two back.
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Earlier this week the former head of the HBOS mortgage bank, Sir James Crosby, recommended that the government take direct action to stimulate the flow of mortgage funds to the UK banking industry.
In the banking industry, of course, no one dies as a direct result of a banks screwup.
Direct efforts to improve the supply of credit to companies - including by making the banking sector more competitive - might well fall into this category.
They are a direct result of the housing bubble that was created by the reckless policies of the banking industry and the Federal Reserve, from which the financial industry profited handsomely.
Retail bank branches may be the oldest legacy of all, but they have not been replaced by ATMs, direct deposit, standing orders for bill payment, travelers checks, credit cards, phone banking, Internet banking or mobile banking.
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He said he was grateful for the support given to the banking sector from central banks and governments, but stressed that Barclays had not taken any direct support from the taxpayer.
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