Capital One Has $36 Billion of Loans in 3 Storm-Battered States

Capital One Financial (COF) has $36.4 billion of loans outstanding in the three states hardest hit by superstorm Sandy but says is too soon to know what percentage those loans are at risk of default as a result of  the property damage.

In its quarterly report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission Thursday, the McLean, Va., company said that it has $19.8 billion of consumer loans and $16.6 billion of commercial loans outstanding in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. The $36.4 billion total is equal to nearly 18% of the loans the bank keeps on its books, according to the SEC filing.

Capital One appears to be the first bank to quantify its level of exposure to the storm, which struck the region on Oct. 29 and 30. Several other banks, including Wells Fargo (WFC), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Citigroup (NYSE: C) and Astoria Financial (AF), said in 10-Q filings this week that they are still assessing the impact of the storm but did not provide any details on their levels of exposure.

In its filing, Capital One said that the storm and its aftermath expose the loans to an “elevated’ risk of loss. It added, however, that because Sandy was so recent it is still in the process of evaluating the “extent of the disruption to the individuals, businesses or properties that support our loans. Consequently, it is too early to estimate the potential financial impact on our future earnings.”

Insurance and government support have helped offset losses in past disasters, but Capital One said in the filing that it “cannot give assurance that those historical patterns will apply in this case, particularly given our concentration of commercial real estate exposure in the hardest hit areas.”

Its level of exposure is highest in New York, where it has $25.4 billion of loans outstanding, more than half of which are commercial loans.

In Connecticut, Capital One has just under $3 billion of loans outstanding and in New Jersey it has $8 billion. The bulk of those are consumer loans, such as car loans, mortgages and credit card loans.