Dive Brief:

• Green Dot CEO George Gresham, whose predecessor Dan Henry was fired last month, has named a new chief financial officer, Jess Unruh; chief revenue officer, Chris Ruppel; and chief operations officer, Teresa Watkins, the company said in a press release Thursday.
• The appointments come as Gresham said the new team at the payments company will turn its attention to streamlining the various parts of Green Dot’s currently complicated technology infrastructure over the next one to two years for more efficient service.
• While the Austin, Texas-based company had expected to increase its adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBIDTA) next year, it reversed that forecast this week when it reported third-quarter results. Gresham said the company now expects adjusted EBIDTA to drop, but on a conference call with analysts he declined to estimate how much it would fall.

Dive Insight:

Green Dot fired Henry from the CEO post last month after he had been on the job for just over two years, following his appointment in March 2020. 

Gresham, who joined Green Dot in October 2021 as chief financial and operating officer, said Green Dot’s strategy for expanding its payment services for consumers and its banking-as-a-service products won’t change under his leadership though he suggested he will have a different style in execution.

He’s taking over a company that was recently hobbled by several unnamed customers declining to renew their contracts. Green Dot, which provides card and related financial services directly to consumers and as white-label services, also disclosed in August that it’s in a legal battle with ride-share company Uber Technologies, which had been a customer.

While the company had anticipated adjusted earnings growth might still be possible next year despite losing the customer contracts, that thinking has changed now.

“Based on consumer and other trends we have observed since the second quarter, we now believe adjusted EBIDTA will decline on a year over year basis in 2023 compared to 2022,” Gresham told analysts on a Wednesday call to discuss the earnings report. “My commentary is based on factors including the macroeconomic outlook, interest rates, duplicative costs associated with our technology transformation; and the timing of the related expense savings and the performance of the retail channel.”

While the net savings from the technology transformation may be less than expected next year, Gresham remained confident costs will come out eventually, just later than previously expected. He emphasized the importance of continuing to pursue integration of the disparate technologies on the company’s platform.

“I wanted to reiterate that our near-term priorities have not changed,” Gresham said on the call. “Our technology transformation will continue. We must move the company onto a modern technology platform. This is critical to our long-term success as it will unlock our capabilities and potential while driving significant efficiencies across the enterprise.”

Green Dot reported third-quarter net income edged down 3% to $23.3 million over the year-earlier period, on a revenue increase of 1% to $343.7 million, the company said in its Nov. 9 press release. The adjusted EBITDA also decreased 2% to $45.5 million.

Gresham noted that the company had recently landed a large new banking-as-a-service customer and also signed up a big U.S. retailer for its earned wage access services, but he didn’t name either.