Visa Europe, Garanti Bank, and Turkcell Reach Mobile Wallet Deal

Green Dot Corp. announced that it has agreed to buy the Walmart MoneyCard portfolio from GR Capital Retail bank in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

On June 7, 2013, GE Capital Retail Bank (formerly known as GE Money Bank (“GE Bank”)) and Green Dot Bank, the subsidiary bank of Green Dot Corporation (the “Company”), entered into an Agreement to Purchase Assets and Assume Liabilities (the “Agreement”). Pursuant to the Agreement, Green Dot Bank has agreed to acquire from GE Bank the reloadable prepaid cards (“Cards”) bearing the marks of Walmart (as defined below) issued under that certain Card Program Services Agreement, dated as of October 27, 2006, by and between the Company and GE Bank, as amended (the “Services Agreement”).

The deal likely will streamline the regulatory work of both organizations. Currently, the primary regulator of Green Dot Bank is the Federal Reserve Board, and the primary regulator of GE Capital Retail bank is the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. What this means is that Green Dot, as the third party program manager for GE Capital, was probably undergoing exams from both regulators. Once the deal is completed, Green Dot will only need to deal with its primary regulator, and GE Capital will not need to be examined in regards to its prepaid program. It also will enable Green Dot to better control costs by bringing all of its programs under one, in-house issuer. It also seems that the MoneyCard was GE Capital’s only prepaid card, so GE Capital will be able to focus on its core businesses.

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