NetSpend built its business around an estimated 60 million Americans who had no regular bank account or leaned on check cashers and other alternatives. The Austin, Texas company sold general-purpose reloadable prepaid debit cards. Customers put money on a card and used it like any other debit card. By mid-2010 NetSpend had about 2 million active cards and $8.8 billion in yearly card volume. Its October 2010 IPO priced at $11 a share.

Banking for the Underbanked

NetSpend Corporation was incorporated in Texas in 1999. The bet was that people outside the banking system still needed a card to pay bills, shop and manage money, and that traditional banks were not serving them well. NetSpend called these customers underbanked and built its products around them. Check-cashing chain ACE became one of its biggest sales channels. In May 2004, Oak Investment Partners took a controlling stake through a recapitalization.

TSYS Pays $16

NetSpend priced its IPO at $11 a share in October 2010 and listed on Nasdaq as NTSP. In early 2013 the payment processor TSYS made a run at the company. Its offers rose from $15.25 to $15.40 a share as the two sides bargained over terms. The final deal paid $16 a share in cash. It closed in July 2013, and NetSpend became part of TSYS.

Cover: Picture Books and Coin Purse, Utagawa (Ichiosai) Kunimitsu I. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for a coin purse (prepaid cards).