CREDIT CARD EXECUTIVES BEGIN TO BAIL ON OWN STOCK

June 6, 2001

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Executives and directors at three large credit-card issuers, Capital One Financial Corp., MBNA Corp. and Providian Financial Corp., recently sold their own company shares, cashing in more than $194 million during April and May, according to The Wall Street Journal, as reported by the American Bankruptcy Institute.

The sales occurred amid investor concerns about weakening credit quality and a challenging environment for consumer lenders. High consumer debt levels, a slowing economy and climbing bankruptcy rates have resulted in rising bad-loan write-offs and late payments.

Richard Fairbank, Capital One’s chairman and chief executive officer, sold one million shares, and Nigel Morris, the company’s president and chief operating officer, sold 878,146 shares. At MBNA, the No. 2 credit card issuer, nine insiders disposed of 1.6 million shares, for between $33.05 and $37.50 each, or a total of about $56.7 million. Charles Cawley, president of the Wilmington, Del., company, sold or said he planned to sell 616,030 shares for $21.7 million. Also selling shares were insiders at Providian Financial, of San Francisco, the fifth-largest issuer. Since late April two individuals cashed in $1.2 million, or 20,620 shares, at between $53.91 and $58.68 a share. In addition, one executive sold $256,548 of shares in March at about $51 a share.