Green Dot Revenue Up on Card Use, Spending Growth (Feb. 4, 2013)
Feb. 4, 2013
Prepaid issuer and program manager Green Dot Corp. said its revenue jumped 15 percent in the fourth quarter of 2012 compared to the previous year, with the growth largely due to upswings in card activation and consumer spending. The Pasadena, Calif.-based company took in $137.3 million in last year’s final three months, compared to $119.1 million in the final quarter of 2011. Green Dot’s profit, however, declined by nearly a quarter, to $10.4 million from $13.6 million the previous year, with the company citing increased operating expenses for the decline. Green Dot said it activated 1.85 million new cards in the fourth quarter of 2012, a 7 percent increase from a year earlier. The amount of money loaded onto the company’s cards, meanwhile, reached $4.3 billion, up 13 percent over Q4 2011.
Green Dot recently has been making strides to expand its customer base beyond the traditional target market for its retail-based prepaid cards. Last month, the firm unveiled GoBank, a mobile banking product targeting smartphone users who are dissatisfied with their banks. The program features an FDIC-insured deposit account that enables users to make payments, transfer funds via email or text and accept deposits via remote capture. And last summer, Green Dot teamed with Sallie Mae to launch a prepaid debit card onto which college students can opt to load their financial aid disbursement funds. Many industry observers say Green Dot’s efforts to diversify are increasingly vital in the face of new competition in the prepaid card market from major banks and financial institutions.
