MetaBank Earnings Drop Significantly

In its 10-k, MetaBank reports that its 2011 earnings fell 63 percent year-over-year.

Overall, earnings dipped from $12.4 million in 2010 to just $4.6 million in fiscal year 2011.

MetaBank attributes that performance to the problems in its MPS division. MPS is a dominant player within the corporations various operating programs. In 2010, MetaBank would have lost money were it not for MPS. MPS earned $12.6 million. Thus, without MPS MetaBank loses approximately $200,000 in 2010. In 2011, business wide profits were actually greater than those solely within MPS, but only by approximately $700,000.

MPS is the division that handles all of the diverse elements of MetaBank’s prepaid card programs. On this site, much has been made of the cards that MetaBank has issued, but MPS is also the operator of a very large payments processing program. A large portion of MPS’ underperformance was due to the $5.2 million fine levied by the Office of Thrift Supervision against the company.