ANAHEIM, Calif.
– A New Jersey-based financial services firm says it won’t be impacted by a possible bank holiday, saying it is already in the process of relocating to a new facility in San Jose, California, to ensure the safety of its customers.
“The bank holiday will not affect us in any way,” said Jim Smith, vice president and chief financial officer at The Capital One Financial Group, which has operations in New Jersey, Massachusetts, Vermont, New York and Connecticut.
Smith said the company has already begun the process to relocate its offices from its current location in the heart of Newark, New Jersey to a facility in South San Jose.
“We are currently in the midst of the relocation process,” Smith said.
He added that the company is “very confident” that it will be able to resume its operations as planned on December 16, although he said there is no immediate timeline.
The New Jersey financial services giant has about 15,000 employees.
The Capital One Group has about 30,000 staff in New York, according to the company website.
Capital One’s move to San Jose comes as the financial services industry faces a surge in regulatory scrutiny as the Federal Reserve and other regulators have raised concerns about the role that virtual currencies play in facilitating money laundering.
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, in a statement on Thursday, said he had requested information from the state about whether any financial institutions in New Mexico or New Jersey may have received orders from the Federal Bureau of Investigation to freeze or seize any assets held by virtual currency companies.
Schneiderman’s office said it was seeking documents about any orders issued by the bureau, as well as information about any requests by the New York attorney general to any other state, county or city.
Last week, Schneiderman sent letters to more than 100 virtual currency firms, asking for more information about the nature of the federal government’s order and whether any of the companies were operating in New New Jersey.
One of the firms, CirclePay, said on Wednesday that it would not take the government’s letter seriously, and that it had already relocated to a New Jersey facility.
The letter said CirclePay had received no such order, and would “continue to conduct business as usual in the United States of America.”