Green Dot to Launch Bank Account This Year

Green Dot Corp. will introduce a bank account with a traditional debit card attached to it later this year, Steve Streit, the company's chief executive and founder, told American Banker in an interview on Thursday evening.

The Monrovia, Calif., prepaid card company specializes in selling cards that are not linked to traditional bank accounts, which people can use like debit cards. But now it is branching out.

Green Dot is still in the process of talking with its regulators about the bank account, Streit says, declining to say when the company will unveil its new product or to provide further details.

"It's more of a traditional bank account product," he says. "But I don't want to give any" of the details away.

In December, Green Dot bought Bonneville Bancorp of Provo, Utah for $15.7 million. And this week the company said it was purchasing some of the processing and hardware assets of eCommLink.

Streit spoke with American Banker after the company reported its fourth-quarter earnings. Green Dot's quarterly net income rose 76% from a year earlier, to $14.0 million, or 33 cents per share. Operating revenues also rose 30% from a year earlier, to $119.7 million.