Green Dot is moving into the small business space with the launch of GoBusiness, a version of the mobile bank account GoBank designed for use by employees in the on-demand economy.
This initiative, announced on today’s earning call, should not be confused with Mastercard’s Australia-based Go Business service. Its precise launch date is unclear, but Streit said the company prefers to launch new products early in the year.
“We intend to partner with at least one company that will offer the GoBusiness account to their large base of 1099 workers,” Streit said.
The GoBusiness account will serve nonpayroll workers in the on-demand economy, such as those selling products on Etsy and delivering for Postmates, said CEO Steve Streit. It also positions them in the space of Square, which began serving micro merchants, but is now moving upmarket.
Green Dot also acquired TPG, a tax-preparation service, in 2014. It is easy to see how this could be leveraged to serve small business customers and help with accounting.
GoBank will also see new distribution partners in 2016, new marketing, and a new value proposition, according to Streit. He did not elaborate on what the enhanced value proposition might be.
Streit also mentioned that Green Dot continues to seek regulatory approval for credit products to be offered through GoBank, and noted the company will launch MoneyPak Plus, an updated MoneyPak prepaid refill service, with increased risk mitigation. It will not serve as wide an audience as the previous product, nor make up for the losses company sustained in its absence. That’s a good thing.