Meet the $4 billion ‘fintech’ company in your backyard

This piece is presented by MetaBank.

Sioux Falls has a lot of quiet success stories.

This is one of them.

Meta Financial Group, more commonly known as MetaBank, began in Iowa as Storm Lake Savings and Loan in 1954 – founded with $10,000 in deposits. It has grown into a national “fintech,” or financial technology, company with assets exceeding $4 billion.

Fintech companies blend traditional financial services with emerging technology. Here’s what that looks like at Meta:

MetaBank’s corporate headquarters is in Sioux Falls, but its diverse business model has locations across the United States. The company’s goal is to deliver innovative financial service solutions that change the way people use, borrow and manage money. To achieve this goal, MetaBank has created a financial ecosystem through the development of products and services that leverage innovation and technology through multiple channels.

“Our business model is extremely unique in the financial industry,” said Tyler Haahr, Meta’s CEO. “We’re nationally known for our prepaid business, and we’re gaining a lot of attention now in the tax space due to agreements this year with H&R Block and Jackson Hewitt, neither of which would have been possible without our recent acquisitions. Two years ago, we had a relatively small presence in tax, and this year we’re estimating that MetaBank will provide funding for about 85 percent of the tax-refund advance loans in the United States.”

Here’s a look at Meta by the numbers:

  • 17 total locations: 10 retail branches, two corporate-services buildings, two insurance premium finance locations and three tax-services locations.
  • Almost 800 employees of which 550 are in Sioux Falls.
  • More than $4 billion in assets.

Meta has received a great deal of national recognition in the past couple of years:

  • MetaBank was named the No. 1 top growth bank in the nation by Bank Director in June 2016.
  • MetaBank is the one of the top issuers of prepaid cards in the United States.
  • MetaBank was named Business of the Year, 500+ Employees, by the Sioux Empire United Way in February 2017.

“We’ve had significant growth in the last several years,” Haahr said. “Two years ago, our market capitalization was about $220 million. Today, we are over $800 million. During this same time period, our assets have grown from under $2 billion to well over $4 billion. I think Meta is a great homegrown success story.”

To learn more about opportunities at Meta, visit MetaBank.com.

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Meet the $4 billion ‘fintech’ company in your backyard

MetaBank’s goal is to deliver innovative financial service solutions that change the way people use, borrow and manage money.

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