Built on tech: Sanjiv Yajnik, Auto Finance Executive of the Year

Capital One ’s auto finance business hinges on a technology-based approach defined by dealers’ needs — two elements core to who Sanjiv Yajnik , president of financial services, is as an engineer and leader. “The innovation we have brought to the fundamental DNA of Capital One is: How do you do this with enough flexibility on the margin that you can build a meaningful, strong relationship with our dealers — not a wheeling and dealing relationship, not a transactional one,” Yajnik told Auto Finance News . We are pleased to name Yajnik the 2025 Auto Finance Executive of the Year. [caption id="attachment_58357701" align="alignleft" width="263"] (Sanjiv Yajnik | Courtesy/Capital One)[/caption] During the past year, the automotive market has navigated affordability challenges compounded by still-high interest rates, rising vehicle prices and higher costs for everyday necessities. Dealers have had to adjust their post-pandemic sales and supply strategies, find ways to meet the demand for used cars with limited supply and navigate changes in the EV landscape . Despite market challenges, Capital One’s commitment to innovation, AI-driven technology solutions for dealers and a strategic response to market opportunities have allowed it to not only be nimble but also grow and transform. “We've moved from being Capital One Auto Finance to Capital One Auto because we have the auto finance piece, but we also have our software and platform,” Yajnik said. “The industry needs a cost-effective solution by a company that is deeply steeped in technology and is looking out for the dealer and -- through the dealer -- the end customer.” The capabilities the lender brings dealers allow for a level of transparency that customers appreciate, Kris Gaerlan , president at Dallas Lease Returns , told AFN . The Farmers Branch, Texas-based used-car dealer has worked with Capital One since 2009. “Very seldom do you get someone at [Sanjiv's] level sitting down and asking dealers: ‘What is it that you guys need?’” ‘Focus on quality’ While keeping its dealer customers in mind, Capital One has taken a “slow approach to growth in a systematic way,” Yajnik said. “In the early days, instead of going down the route of predominantly judgmental underwriting — which has its benefits, but it has a lot of flaws — we started building our technology and analytics from the ground up,” he said. “We've never chased the market, but we look for trends deep within our data.” “We've never chased the market, but we look for trends deep within our data.” -- Sanjiv Yajnik, Capital One Capital One’s auto originations climbed 17.2% year over year in the third quarter to $10.7 billion, with outstandings up 8.7% YoY to $82.3 billion. Auto originations rose 16.5% from Q1 to Q3, according to an AFN analysis. At yearend 2024, Capital One was the fifth-largest auto lender by outstandings, according to the latest Big Wheels Rankings data . The bank’s auto originations in 2024 were up 27.7% YoY to $34.5 billion . The bank reviews data across its businesses, including credit card, auto and other assets, Yajnik said. “Our entire machine does not rely on consolidated scores that come out of credit bureaus,” he said. “We look at raw data.” This mindset allows Capital One to meet the market where it is and determine when to lean in or pull back, Yajnik said. “The market has become very complex, because if you look at the external environment, some of the signals seem to be positive; the economy continues to move along at a very rapid pace,” he said. “From those perspectives, it feels like we are in a great time. When you look at the other end of the telescope, however, there are a lot of signs of strain in the economy .” Consumers are no longer benefiting from the savings they built during the pandemic, with stress and “cracks” especially felt in lower-income populations as everyday costs rise, Yajnik said. “Inflation means everything has gone up on average by 25%. Everything costs a quarter more than it did previously,” he said. “Cars have become way more expensive, and there are certain parts of our economy where salaries have not kept pace. You're seeing strains there, and that's evidenced by the fact that sales are starting to soften.” The new-vehicle average transaction price rose 1.3% YoY to $49,814 in November, according to Kelley Blue Book data. New-vehicle average transaction price [caption id="attachment_58357507" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] (Courtesy/Cox Automotive)[/caption] The number of weeks of median income needed to purchase a new vehicle in November was 36.3, down from 36.4 in October and 37.1 weeks in November 2024, according to Cox. New-car sales are projected to fall 7.8% year over year and 1% month over month in November to 1.3 million units, according to Cox Automotive estimates published Dec. 4. The seasonally adjusted annual rate in November is expected to be 15.7 million units, down from 16.5 million a year prior but up from 15.3 million in October. December sales are also projected to slip 3.5% YoY to 1.5 million units, up 12.7% MoM, according to Cox data published Dec. 17. Fourth-quarter sales are forecast at 4.2 million units nationwide, down 4.7% YoY. Capital One does not set volume targets or offer employees incentives based on volume but rather strategizes based on where the market is headed, Yajnik said. “We focus on quality and only take what the market gives us,” he said. “We are completely comfortable pulling back when we need to and completely comfortable stepping in when we need to. We do not follow anything other than our own analytics and knowledge that we have gleaned.” “We are completely comfortable pulling back when we need to and completely comfortable stepping in when we need to." -- Sanjiv Yajnik, Capital One The bank, for example, pulled back on auto when the market was more volatile in 2022 and 2023 and leaned back in when market conditions improved, evidenced in how auto originations have trended for the past five years. [caption id="attachment_58357698" align="aligncenter" width="1991"] (Chart/Auto Finance News | Source/Capital One earnings reports)[/caption] ‘Nimble infrastructure’ One of Yajnik’s strengths as a leader is looking beyond the next quarter, Jana Etheridge , senior vice president and chief of staff at Capital One, told AFN . She has been chief of staff for 15 years and with the bank for more than 19 years. “[Focusing] on what is happening in the industry, where the industry is going and what's the role that we need to play to take the best care of our customers, that's been his superpower,” she said. Capital One uses three key strategies to identify market opportunities, Yajnik said: Adopting a “test-and-learn methodology” throughout the organization; Monitoring at a “most granular level”; and Building a “nimble infrastructure” that allows for speed, adaptability and confidence. "When you take all of that together, we see opportunities in the market before others,” he said. “In 2022 and 2023, we saw some troubling signs in the market. ... We pulled out of certain areas where others kept leaning in. That led to higher losses on their side [while] we had low losses.” Designed experiments at core Rather than growing by opening the credit box, Capital One has leaned into sophistication and assisting dealers with getting customers into “the right deal for the car,” Yajnik said. “[Focusing] on what is happening in the industry, where the industry is going and what's the role that we need to play to take the best care of our customers, that's been his superpower." -- Jana Etheridge, Capital One From the beginning of Capital One, he said the bank has used designed experiments to garner insights and drive strategy. These are structured studies used to test and optimize products, such as creating risk-based pricing for credit cards rather than a set interest rate. This allows Capital One to “do things in the market which will prove to be unprofitable, but by doing statistically significant samples using data engineering, [you glean] insights,” Yajnik said. This same strategy has been applied to auto, he said, noting, “Our DNA is based on technology and deep mathematics and analytics, and so we brought that to bear in auto.” “Our DNA is based on technology and deep mathematics and analytics, and so we brought that to bear in auto.” -- Sanjiv Yajnik, Capital One Yajnik holds 27 patents, with more pending . “We don't build cars. We don't have dealerships,” he said. “All we do is try to make it easier for the dealers to use their own magic sauce and for them to sell cars.” Auto finance factors a multitude of variables. “The machine that we built means that if one customer goes to one dealership to buy a particular car on a single day, we must choose from combinations to get the exact right [mix] of cash down, trade-in, what kind of a car, what kind of warranties,” he said, noting the number of combinations available is nearly unfathomable. “We have to do that calculation sub-second, not only for one but for all things coming to us,” Yajnik said. “That's why it's not only a mindset, it’s the way in which the entire company is organized.” Yajnik’s prioritization of dealers has allowed the bank to weather the ups and downs of the market, SVP Etheridge said. “Sanjiv goes directly to our customers to find out what are the things that they need to run their businesses,” she said. “Our dealers are who we see as our key customers.” Dealerships at forefront Supporting dealers means building a technology product that balances flexibility and risk management, Yajnik said. “In the auto business, emoting with the dealership is incredibly important,” he said. “It’s a hard business to run and they have no time. They try to do the right thing for the customer and make a fair return.” For more than 15 years, Capital One has embraced dealers’ role in the marketplace and gathered feedback directly from dealers to build tools that generate leads and sales, Dallas Lease Returns’ Gaerlan said. “Early on, when the entire marketplace was talking about cutting the dealer out of the marketplace, Sanjiv and Capital One was the only real lender that was coming to us and saying, ‘We think the future is betting on the dealer,’” he said. “He had some unique ways of or thoughts around that. The biggest one was Auto Navigator.” Gaerlan was one dealer who heard nearly 10 years ago about Capital One’s plan for a marketplace that provided dealers with leads. “At the time, there was no one else even thinking about that,” he said. “Now a lot of other companies have tried to emulate that product.” Journey to AI Capital One has been on a tech journey, defined by dealership operations. “Sanjiv is not just saying ‘We should do AI,’ but going deep personally, tearing it apart, understanding it, learning it and then staring at what are the pieces that matter,” Etheridge said. The lender’s tech journey tailored to auto so far encompasses more than a decade of building upon its own innovations. The timeline below highlights some of the major technologies: [caption id="attachment_58357699" align="aligncenter" width="819"] Figure 1[/caption] Navigator Platform , Muse and Chat Concierge , highlighted in Figure 1, were born of Capital One’s commitment to making it easier for dealers and customers to transact quickly and with transparency, Yajnik said. [caption id="attachment_58349428" align="alignleft" width="195"] (Courtesy/Capital One)[/caption] "The dealer navigator portal gave us an opportunity to quickly log in to one place and bring an approved client. That was a complete game changer,” Dallas Lease’s Gaerlan said. “That all happened because Sanjiv was asking us questions.” “That all happened because Sanjiv was asking us questions.” -- Kris Gaerlan, Dallas Lease Returns Muse puts “a billion dollars of development into every salesperson's pocket. They have the entire power of Capital One sitting right in their pocket,” Yajnik said. However, while Capital One has embraced technology in its DNA, it has not been without trials. Technology must be built with clean data and secured against cyberthreats and fraudulent activity, Yajnik said. “We move deliberately, but what we create for the market is resilient and is fully regulated,” he said. ‘Not done yet’ In 2026, Capital One is preparing for risks related to the economy and automotive industry, Yajnik said. “We will be working with our dealer partners so when there is a downturn ... we make sure that we ... can be there for our dealers in the hard times,” he said. Dealers’ businesses are changing because of technology and shifting supply and demand dynamics, Yajnik said. [caption id="attachment_58357700" align="alignright" width="238"] (Sanjiv Yajnik | Courtesy/Capital One)[/caption] “There will be cycles, but it’s not going to be like the pandemic where there were only so many cars,” he said. “There's a structural change happening in the auto dealership industry. They are going from a business that used to be low volume and higher margin and moving into a higher volume, lower margin business. To make the same profits, they have to sell more cars.” To grow sales, dealerships must recognize that consumers want great experiences and fast financing, Yajnik said. Capital One’s strategy is to use its capabilities across risk management, fraud prevention and scale to create products for dealerships they couldn’t create in-house. “We’re not done yet,” he said. “Once you get on that technology and analytics innovation, it's a continuous improvement cycle.” Dealers are largely embracing that technology cycle alongside lenders, but with AI-based tools that support car sales, help lower inventory costs and raise gross profit, Lori Wittman , president of retail solutions at Cox Automotive, said in an AI readiness study published Oct. 28. The study found that 81% of dealers believe AI is here to stay while 63% recognize that investing in AI is crucial for their long-term success, according to Cox. Dealers are testing AI for back-office operations, sales, marketing, service departments, and finance and insurance. Accuracy was the No. 1 concern among dealers related to AI use. At the end of the day, improving the tech stack, building new products and strategically navigating the market all aids one end goal, Yajnik said. “The American dream and the love story with cars and the part that cars play in a person's life — if I can do even a little bit to get that better understood and support that journey, I would be happy.” Read More about Auto Finance Executives of the Year

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