Green Dot Lures Prepaid Exec Away from Amex

Green Dot (GDOT) has hired former American Express (AXP) executive Thien Truong as senior vice president of business development and sales.

Most recently Truong served as vice president of retail and mall channels for Amex's U.S. payment options group; he oversaw the nationwide launch of its prepaid card and gift card business, Green Dot said in press release Monday.

Truong previously held management and corporate strategy positions at Procter & Gamble, Nestle Waters, and Frito Lay, a division of PepsiCo.

Truong's experience in financial services and retail "will be an important addition to our team as we seek to increase our retail distribution and identify attractive new channels for product expansion," said Kostas Sgoutas, the chief revenue officer for Green Dot.

Green Dot, a prepaid cards services provider in Pasadena, Calif., works with more than 90,000 U.S. retailers and offers GoBank, a mobile banking account, through its Green Dot Bank unit.

Truong will manage product development and seek to foster growth of existing relationships with Wal-Mart Stores (WMT), MasterCard (MA) and other partners, the company said.

Green Dot recently hired Joshua Goines from PayPal as the general manager of GoBank.