Capital One Financial has reportedly entered a “new era” after completing its acquisition of Discover Financial Services. With the acquisition, Capital One grew in size and added a debit and credit card network, which could “supercharge” its banking and card businesses. The Discover network could enable Capital One to make more money from debit card payments than competitors that are not both a card issuer and network; use the incremental interchange revenue to boost its bottom line or fund debit card rewards to attract new customers; and fund more investment and enhance rewards and deals to keep expanding its credit business. When Capital One announced in February 2024 that it planned to acquire Discover for $35.3 billion, it said the transaction would create a global payments platform with 70 million merchant acceptance points in more than 200 countries and territories. “Our acquisition of Discover is a singular opportunity to bring together two very successful companies with complementary capabilities and franchises, and to build a payments network that can compete with the largest payments networks and payments companies,” Richard Fairbank, founder, chairman and CEO of Capital One, said. “Through this combination, we’re creating a company that is exceptionally well-positioned to create significant value for consumers, small businesses, merchants and shareholders as technology continues to transform the payments and banking marketplace.”