Prepaid powerhouses post strong third quarters

Prepaid card juggernauts Green Dot Corp. and NetSpend Holdings Inc. reported third-quarter 2010 increases in operating revenues over the same time frame last year. Green Dot tabulated $88.9 million in revenues for Q3 2010, a 36 percent increase over the Q3 2009 result of $65.3 million. NetSpend, which recently went public, saw revenues grow 22 percent, from $56 million in Q3 2009 to $68.2 million in the third quarter this year.

Green Dot also reported that its number of general purpose reloadable debit cards activated was up 36 percent in Q3 2010, with money transfers also increasing by 50 percent. The number of active cards increased as well, reaching 3.3 million, which measures out to 50 percent more active cards than in Q3 2009, Green Dot said.

Meanwhile, NetSpend said its number of active cards reached 2.1 million as of Sept. 30, 2010, compared to 1.7 million active cards at the end of Q3 2009. The percentage of active cards that have direct deposit enabled was 31.7 percent in Q3 2010, compared to 25.9 percent as of Sept. 30, 2009, NetSpend said.

Steve Streit, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer at Green Dot, commented, "Our commitment to provide mass access to simple, inexpensive, low hassle products that allow consumers to solve their basic financial and payment needs continues to drive our growth."

Dan Henry, CEO at NetSpend, noted, "We're very pleased to be announcing strong business results in our first quarter as a publicly-traded company. These results are a product of the focus, discipline and dedication that all of my teammates have in serving the underbanked population in this country."

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