Business Description
Meta Financial, a registered unitary savings and loan holding company, is a
Delaware corporation, the principal assets of which are all the issued and outstanding
shares of the Bank, a federal savings bank, the accounts of which are insured
up to applicable limits by the Deposit Insurance Fund (“DIF”) of
the FDIC. Unless the context otherwise requires, references herein to the Company
include Meta Financial and the Bank, and all subsidiaries of Meta Financial,
direct or indirect, on a consolidated basis.
The Bank, a wholly-owned full-service banking subsidiary of Meta Financial,
is both a community-oriented financial institution offering a variety of financial
services to meet the needs of the communities it serves and a payments company
providing services on a nationwide basis, as further described below. The business
of the Bank consists of attracting retail deposits from the general public and
investing those funds primarily in one-to-four family residential mortgage loans,
commercial and multi-family real estate, agricultural operations and real estate,
construction, consumer and commercial operating loans, and premium finance loans
primarily in the Bank’s market areas. The Bank also purchases loan participations
from time to time from other financial institutions, but presently at a lower
level compared to prior years, as well as mortgage-backed securities and other
investments permissible under applicable regulations.
In addition to its community-oriented lending and deposit gathering activities,
the Bank’s MPS division issues prepaid cards, designs innovative consumer
credit products, sponsors Automatic Teller Machines (“ATMs”) into
various debit networks, offers tax refund transfer services and other payment
industry products and services. Through its activities, MPS generates both fee
income and low- and no-cost deposits for the Bank.
Loan applications are initially considered and approved at various levels of
authority, depending on the type and amount of the loan. The Company has a loan
committee consisting of senior lenders and Market Presidents, and is led by
the Chief Lending Officer. Loans in excess of certain amounts require approval
by at least two members of the loan committee, a majority of the loan committee,
or by the Company’s Board Loan Committee, which has responsibility for
the overall supervision of the loan portfolio. The Company may discontinue,
adjust, or create new lending programs to respond to competitive factors. The
Company also created a Specialty Lending committee to oversee its insurance
premium finance division and other specialized lending activities in which the
Company may become involved. The Committee consists of senior personnel with
diverse backgrounds well suited for oversight of these types of activities.
Insurance premium finance loans in excess of certain amounts require approval
from one or more members of the Committee.
One-to-Four Family Residential Mortgage Lending. One-to-four family residential
mortgage loan originations are generated by the Company’s marketing efforts,
its present customers, walk-in customers and referrals.
The Company offers fixed-rate and ARM loans for both permanent structures and
those under construction.