Green Dot To Buy Republic Bank’s Tax Refund Business For $165 Million

Green Dot Corporation will buy the “assets and operations” of Republic Bank & Trust Company’s Tax Refund Solutions (TRS) business segment under an agreement between the two companies. The deal is subject to “customary closing conditions” and is expected to be wrapped up in Q4 of 2021, according to a Friday (May 14) announcement.

“The acquisition of TRS presents unique opportunities for near- and long-term growth of our tax processing business, as we work to deliver more accessible and beneficial tax products and services to customers nationwide,” Brian Schmidt, CEO of Santa Barbara Tax Products Group, a division of Green Dot Corporation, said in the announcement. “We look forward to welcoming TRS employees to the Green Dot family, and to benefiting from their experience and insights in the years to come.”

Green Dot will pay roughly $165 million in cash for TRS to Republic Bank as part of the deal, while Republic Bank will offer transition services to Green Dot for TRS in the 2022 calendar year. Moreover, Green Dot intends to “maintain the associates primarily dedicated to the TRS business,” while Republic Bank will retain the rest of the associates to work on its other operations inside of its Republic Processing Group, according to the announcement.

“TRS’s long-term contributions to our success have been tremendous and we believe there continues to be a bright future for the tax business,” Republic Bank’s Chair & CEO Steve Trager said in the announcement. “We are confident Green Dot will continue to provide TRS’s clients and business partners the service they have come to expect…”

The news comes as Green Dot was launching mobile bank GO2bank to help individuals who are living paycheck to paycheck.

“GO2bank is built to be the go-to destination for seamless, affordable, useful banking — combining the security, stability, and experience of an FDIC-insured bank with the innovation and agility of a leading FinTech,” Green Dot CEO Dan Henry said in a January announcement.