Sioux Falls, S.D.-based MetaBank announced March 29 that it is changing its name to Pathward NA.
Last December, Meta Platforms, formerly Facebook, acquired the exclusive rights to the name “Meta” from the bank in a $60 million transaction. The transition, including the launch of a new brand identity and website, is expected to be completed by the end of this year. Until then, MetaBank will continue serving customers under existing brand names. The bank’s holding company, Meta Financial Group, Inc., will become Pathward Financial, Inc., by the end of the year.
The $7.6 billion MetaBank initiated a brand strategy review in 2021 to unite the company under one identity following a series of strategic acquisitions.
“Expanding financial access is too complex and important to be a part-time activity, which is why we’ve made financial inclusion for all the heart of everything we do,” said Brett Pharr, CEO of MetaBank.
The organization’s new name signals a “commitment to removing barriers that prevent millions of Americans from achieving access to the financial system,” Pharr said, and it will help reiterate the importance of working with un- and underbanked populations to help achieve financial mobility.