Item 1A. Risk Factors
Item 1A. Risk Factors
A description of our risk factors can be found in "Item 1A. Risk Factors" included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2021. There were no material changes to those risk factors during the nine months ended June 30, 2022, except that the following risk factors are hereby added:
Our rebranding strategy may not produce the benefits expected, may involve substantial costs and may not be favorably received by our customers.
To reflect the evolution and growth of our business, including our corporate mission of financial inclusion for all®, we rebranding, with the Company changing its name to Pathward Financial, Inc. and the Bank changing to Pathward, N.A. as of July 13, 2022. As previously announced, in connection with the sale of our rights to our current trade names and marks including METABANK and META FINANCIAL GROUP for $60 million, we have agreed to phase out and cease all use of the META marks and names, and change our corporate names by December 7, 2022. Accordingly, the full transition to Pathward is expected by the end of this calendar year, including the launch of a new brand identity and website.
Developing and maintaining awareness and integrity of our brand are important to achieving widespread acceptance of our existing and future product and service offerings and attracting new customers. Successful promotion of our rebranding will depend on the effectiveness of our marketing efforts and on our ability to provide reliable and useful banking solutions. We plan to invest resources to promote our new brand, but we cannot predict how such marketing efforts will be received and there is no guarantee that we will be able to achieve or maintain brand recognition or status under our new names and marks that is comparable to the recognition and status we previously enjoyed. If our rebranding strategy does not produce the benefits expected, it could adversely affect our ability to retain and attract customers, and may have a negative impact on our operations, business, financial results and financial condition.
Our actual operating results may differ significantly from our guidance.
From time to time, we issue guidance in our quarterly earnings releases and conference calls, or otherwise, regarding our future performance that represents our management’s estimates as of the date of release. Guidance is necessarily speculative in nature, and is only an estimate of what management believes is realizable as of the date of release, and it can be expected that some or all of the assumptions underlying the guidance furnished by us will prove to be incorrect or will vary significantly from actual results. Actual results will vary from our guidance and the variations may be material, especially in times of economic uncertainty.
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