CASH 2018 Annual Report

4 On September 8, 2015, the Bank purchased substantially all of the assets and related liabilities of Fort Knox Financial Services Corporation and its subsidiary, Tax Product Services, LLC (together “Refund Advantage”). The assets acquired by the Bank in the acquisition include the Fort Knox operating platform and trade name, Refund Advantage®, and other assets. On November 1, 2016, the Bank purchased substantially all of the assets and certain liabilities of EPS Financial, LLC ("EPS") from privately held Drake Enterprises, Ltd. ("Drake"). The assets acquired by the Bank in the EPS acquisition include the EPS trade name, operating platform, and other assets. On December 14, 2016, the Bank purchased substantially all of the assets and specified liabilities of privately-held Specialty Consumer Services LP ("SCS") relating to its consumer lending and tax advance business. All of these transactions expanded the Company’s business into providing tax refund-transfer and lending services for its customers. On August 1, 2018, the Company completed the acquisition of Crestmark Bancorp, Inc. ("Crestmark") and its Michigan state-charted bank subsidiary, Crestmark Bank (the "Crestmark Acquisition"). Through its Crestmark division, the Bank provides business-to-business commercial financing. First Midwest Financial Capital Trust I, also a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company, was established in July 2001 for the purpose of issuing trust preferred securities. Through the Crestmark Acquisition, the Company acquired floating rate capital securities due to Crestmark Capital Trust I, a 100%-owned nonconsolidated subsidiary of the Company. In April 2017, the Company formed a new entity, Meta Capital, LLC ("Meta Capital"), that is a wholly-owned service corporation subsidiary of MetaBank. Meta Capital was formed for the purpose of making minority equity investments. Meta Capital focuses on investing in companies in the financial services industry. The Company is subject to comprehensive regulation and supervision. See “Regulation” herein. The principal executive office of the Company is located at 5501 South Broadband Lane, Sioux Falls, South Dakota 57108. Its telephone number at that address is (605) 782-1767. MARKET AREAS The MPS, Refund Advantage, EPS and SCS divisions operate out of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, with offices in Louisville, Kentucky, Easton, Pennsylvania and Hurst, Texas. AFS/IBEX operates out of its headquarters in Dallas, Texas with other offices throughout the country. Crestmark operates out of its headquarters in Troy,Michigan, with other offices throughout the country. The community bank’s locations and primary market areas include 10 branch offices in Storm Lake, Iowa, Brookings, South Dakota, Sioux Falls, South Dakota and the Des Moines, Iowa area.