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With regulatory approval in hand, the $520 million purchase of Bethesda's Chevy Chase Bank by Capital One Financial Corp. is slated to close by the end of this week – despite Capital One's billion-dollar net loss last quarter.

It's still too early to say when a name change at Chevy Chase branches will occur, said Diana Don, a Capital One spokeswoman, Monday. Ditto for any other changes, such as layoffs.

"Historically, we have let banks continue to operate as they always have," Don said. "It will be business as usual."

A message on Chevy Chase Bank's Internet site said, "There is no immediate change to accounts or related services. … Once combined, Capital One and Chevy Chase Bank look forward to bringing even more value to consumers and businesses across Greater Washington."

There aren't really competing Capital One and Chevy Chase branches in the same area, which will help keep any potential layoffs to a minimum, Don said. Capital One, with headquarters in McLean, Va., had $109 billion in bank deposits as of December, with most branches in New Jersey, New York, Louisiana and Texas. Chevy Chase, the third largest bank in Maryland in deposits, had $11.6 billion in deposits as of September, with branches also in Virginia, Washington and Delaware.

Capital One recently reported a net loss for 2008 of $46 million, compared with net earnings of $1.6 billion in 2007. In the last three months of 2008, Capital One, perhaps best known for its credit-card TV commercials, lost $1.4 billion. Only $6.5 million of that was in its banking segment, according to company reports.

The recession was the key factor for Capital One's tough fourth quarter, chairman and CEO Richard D. Fairbank said in a recent conference call. But he was upbeat about the acquisition of Chevy Chase.

"We've had a chance to learn even more about the people and capabilities of Chevy Chase as we've begun our integration efforts," Fairbank said, "and based on what we've seen so far, we're even more excited about the prospects of combining Chevy Chase with our local banking business."

Capital One expects to take a $1.75 billion net credit charge to account for potential losses in Chevy Chase's loan portfolio. The percentage of Chevy Chase's noncurrent loans and leases — those 90 days or more past due or already in default — to total loans rose to 4.5 percent in September from 0.7 percent a year earlier, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.