Green Dot: GoBank Deposits, Spending Surged in Q4 (Feb. 2, 2015)
Bolstered by a nationwide rollout in U.S. Walmart stores, Green Dot Corp.’s GoBank mobile bank account showed strong gains during Q4 2014, with monthly deposits up 600 percent and total debit card spend growing nearly tenfold, according to Green Dot’s latest earnings report. Unveiled in early 2013 as a smartphone-based banking alternative featuring a companion debit card, P2P money transfer, bill pay and an FDIC-insured deposit account, GoBank last fall entered an exclusive retail distribution agreement with Walmart.
That deal raised GoBank’s profile, Green Dot CEO Steve Streit said during a company earnings call last week. “Judging from performance metrics, social media comments and app store reviews, it looks like people love this checking account,” Streit said, according to a Seeking Alpha transcript. “The large majority of people who have made an initial deposit to a GoBank account are still active 90 days later, and that’s the first big hurdle in the retention waterfall.” Streit added that the expected average retention of a GoBank account is now being measured in years, rather than months. GoBank also made a strong showing in the 2015 Paybefore Awards. The platform’s companion MasterCard was named a winner in the Consumer Champion category, while the GoBank mobile app is a winner in Gotta-Have Mobile App.
The only “significant challenge” for GoBank is the need to increase the number of new enrollments, which currently sits at a six-figure annualized rate, Streit noted. Though that rate is “very good for a new bank account product,” he said the company is aiming to increase enrollments to a seven-figure annual rate by year-end.
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