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Federal and Utah regulators on Wednesday approved a California financial services company's application to buy the parent company of Bonneville Bank in Provo.
Green Dot Corp., based in Monrovia, Calif., will acquire Bonneville Bancorp, gaining ownership of Bonneville Bank, Green Dot said in a statement.
Terms of the agreement weren't disclosed. However, in a regulatory filing at the Securities and Exchange Commission, Green Dot said it agreed to pay close to $15.7 million to acquire Bonneville Bancorp.
The application was approved by the Federal Reserve and the Utah Department of Financial Institutions. Green Dot said it will close the deal immediately after a mandatory 15-day waiting period ends. Bonneville Bank is the 60th-largest bank in Utah, according to the Fed, one of the state's smallest.
Green Dot officials were unavailable Wednesday. Douglas Christensen, CEO of Bonneville, said he wasn't authorized to comment.
Bonneville Bank was founded in 1978. It has $35.7 million in assets and $29.6 million in deposits, according to the Fed.
Green Dot will change the bank's name to Green Dot Bank, which will eventually issue the company's prepaid cards under a variety of brand names.
The cards function like debit cards but aren't linked to bank accounts. Instead, the money that customers load onto the cards is pooled and held in accounts at third-party banks, which issue the cards.
Lewis Goodwin, former president of DaimlerChrysler Financial Bank, will become the bank's CEO.
Green Dot cards are sold largely through Walmart stores. Walmart bought a minority stake of roughly 2 million Green Dot shares last year, according to a SEC document.
Green Dot earned $13.3 million in its latest quarter on revenue of $115.4 million.
Shares of Green Dot stock closed at $29.62, up $2.11, or 7.7 percent.
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