Amid the flurry of news this week surrounding President Trump’s speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, an announcement by the nation's third-largest credit card issuer, $661 billion (assets) Capital One, that it was spending $5.2 billion on a fintech named Brex seemed to garner little attention.

However, Capital One’s billionaire CEO and cofounder Richard Fairbank is renowned as one of banking's smartest strategists, and this latest acquisition, which is priced well below Brex’s $12 billion valuation from 2022, could prove to be a game-changer in two different areas.

Founded in 2017, Brex offers corporate credit cards, employee spend-management tools and business bank accounts to 35,000 customers, many of them technology firms like Coinbase and DoorDash, as well as startups that often were rejected by American Express. The acquisition, made half in cash and half in stock, gives Capital One a giant inroad into technology companies, from which it can expand its credit card balances. Though not yet profitable, Brex is growing like gangbusters and has reported a gross revenue run-rate of $700 million per year.

Brex will help the credit card giant expand further into business payments and small business banking, Capital One cofounder and CEO Rich Fairbank said on the company’s fourth quarter earnings call........

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