Dive Brief:
- Chief Financial and Operating Officer George Gresham will succeed Dan Henry, who was fired last week, as CEO for Green Dot, the prepaid card issuer and digital bank announced Monday.
- Green Dot, which provides card and related financial services directly to consumers and as white-label services to Walmart and Apple, said Henry was terminated as CEO and president Friday. Henry, who held the CEO position since 2020, also resigned from Green Dot’s board of directors the same day, the company said.
- Gresham, who has served as the company’s chief financial and operating officer since October 2021, will continue to hold that role on an interim basis until a successor is appointed, Green Dot said.
Dive Insight:
"The Board is confident that George is the right person to lead Green Dot through its next phase of growth, and we are grateful to have a proven leader of George’s caliber and experience to step into the role of Chief Executive," William I. Jacobs, chairman of Green Dot’s board of directors, said in a statement.
Gresham has been a member of the company’s board since October 2021.
The leadership change comes amid reports that Green Dot is in a dispute with one of its contract customers, the ride-share company Uber Technologies.
Green Dot alleges Uber isn’t living up to agreements between the companies, Green Dot told Payments Dive in August.
When asked for additional information, a spokesperson suggested legal action had begun.
“We generally do not comment on pending litigation, but we do intend to exercise our legal rights and protect our interests in this matter,” said Alison Lubert, a Green Dot spokesperson.
Green Dot also has weathered the financial repercussions of a failed acquisition. The company in June paid $13 million to Republic Bank to settle a lawsuit the Louisville, Kentucky-based bank filed last year over Green Dot’s failed attempt to buy Republic’s tax refund processing unit.
That settlement was in addition to a $5 million termination fee Green Dot paid Republic in January, according to Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings.
Time for a change?
The leadership shakeup could signal another change in direction for Green Dot.
Under Henry’s leadership, Green Dot launched GO2bank in January. The digital bank aims to serve the low- and moderate-income (LMI) market. The launch marked a major accomplishment for Henry, who led the company after the December 2019 departure of longtime CEO Steve Streit.
Since taking the helm, Henry made clear he planned to regain “lost ground” in the digital consumer banking market, a space that has seen growth from competitors such as Varo Bank, Chime and Current.
“While the news of Dan Henry’s termination is not a positive and clearly a surprise, importantly this seems to be a board-chosen direction rather than one related to cause,” Steven Kwok, an analyst at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, said in a note to clients, according to Bloomberg. “It would appear the board felt that it was time for change as far as an execution strategy and Mr. Gresham’s extensive industry experience should help him in the CEO role.”
Green Dot, in a Monday press release, said it expects its preliminary financial results for the third quarter “will be at or near the high end of the guidance ranges it previously communicated” in August. It estimated, at the time, that adjusted profits would be 34 cents to 38 cents per share.
