We are a leading international financial services company serving unbanked and under-banked consumers. Our financial services store network is the largest network of its kind in each of Canada and the United Kingdom and the second-largest network of its kind in the United States. Our customers are typically service sector individuals who require basic financial services but, for reasons of convenience and accessibility, purchase some or all of their financial services from us rather than from banks and other financial institutions. To meet the needs of these customers, we provide a range of consumer financial products and services primarily consisting of check cashing, single-payment consumer loans, longer-term installment loans, pawn lending, debit cards, phone/gift cards, bill payment, money orders, money transfers, foreign exchange, gold buying and legal document processing services. At June 30, 2009, our global store network consisted of 1,206 locations (of which 1,031 are company-owned) operating as Money Mart®, Money Shop, Loan Mart®, Money Corner, Insta-Cheques®, The Check Cashing Store, American Payday Loans, American Check Casher, Check Casher, Payday Loans, Cash Advance, Cash Advance USA and We The People® in 22 states, Canada, the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. This network includes 1,157 locations (including 1,031 company-owned) in 15 states, Canada, the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland offering financial services including check cashing, single-payment consumer loans, sale of money orders, money transfer services, foreign exchange and various other related services. Also included in this network is the Company’s recently acquired U.K. Internet-based consumer lending business and the Poland acquisition which provides financial services to the general public through in-home servicing.
We are a Delaware corporation incorporated in April 1990 as DFG Holdings, Inc. We operate our store network through our direct wholly-owned subsidiary, Dollar Financial Group, Inc., a New York corporation formed in 1979, and its direct and indirect wholly-owned foreign and domestic subsidiaries (collectively, “OPCO”).
Our Strategy
Our business strategy is designed to capitalize on our competitive strengths and enhance our leading market positions. Key elements of our strategy include:
Growing Through Disciplined Network Expansion We intend to continue to grow our network through the addition of new stores and acquisitions, while adhering to a disciplined selection process. In order to optimize our expansion, we carefully assess potential markets by analyzing demographic, competitive and regulatory factors, site selection and availability, and growth potential. We seek to add locations that offer check cashing, consumer lending, debit cards, foreign currency, pawn lending, gold buying and other services or a combination of any of these products and services. In fiscal 2009, we entered into Poland, our fifth country, with the acquisition of Optima, S.A., that offers unsecured loans with payment terms of generally 40 — 50 week durations with an average loan amount of $250 to $500. Also during fiscal 2009, we acquired an established profitable U.K. Internet-based consumer lending business which was immediately accretive to earnings. The acquired company is competitively positioned in a rapidly growing market and further expands our expertise within the Internet lending arena. Moreover, we believe we can export and leverage this expertise to other European countries as well as our Canadian business unit. We continue to actively seek to acquire targeted competitor operations in selected expansion markets in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Europe and Latin America.
Introducing Related Products and Services We believe that our check cashing and consumer lending customers enjoy the convenience of other high value products and services offered by us. These products and services enable our customers to manage their personal finances more effectively. For example, in fiscal 2004, we introduced reloadable VISA ® brand debit cards, and, in fiscal 2005, we introduced VISA ® brand gift cards. In fiscal 2006, we introduced an installment loan program in the United States and the United Kingdom. In fiscal 2008, we launched an Internet single-payment loan site for residents of California, Arizona and the United Kingdom and plan to expand to other geographic areas over time. During fiscal 2009 we began gold buying services in the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States. We believe this can be a high growth area while gold prices remain relatively high. The addition of the U.K. Internet-based consumer lending also adds to our product offerings. Our product development department continues to develop and test additional new products and services for our customers.
Capitalizing on our Enhanced Network and System Capabilities With our network of 1,206 stores as of June 30, 2009, we are well positioned to capitalize on economies of scale. Our centralized core support functions, including collections, call center, field operations and service, loan processing and tax filing enable us to generate efficiencies by improving collections and purchasing power with our vendors. Our proprietary systems are used to further improve our customer relations and loan servicing activities, as well as to provide a highly efficient means to manage our internal reporting requirements as well as regulatory compliance efforts. We plan to continue to take advantage of these efficiencies to enhance network and store-level profitability.
Maintaining our Customer-Driven Retail Philosophy We strive to maintain our customer-service-oriented approach and meet the basic financial service needs of our service sector customers. This dedication to service helps to explain our high 90+% customer satisfaction scores. We believe our approach differentiates us from many of our competitors and is a key tenet of our employee training programs. We offer extended operating hours in clean, attractive and secure store locations to enhance appeal and stimulate store traffic. In certain markets, we operate stores that are open 24 hours a day. To ensure customer satisfaction, we periodically send anonymous market researchers posing as shoppers to our stores to measure customer service performance. We plan to continue to develop ways to improve our performance, including incentive programs to reward employees for exceptional customer service.
Community Involvement and Ethics We strengthen relationships with our business partners through ethical behavior and with our customers through community involvement. In March of 2007 we were honored to be named the fourth most trustworthy public company in the United States by Audit Integrity, who ranked firms on exhibiting the “highest degree of accounting transparency and fair dealing to stake holders during 2006.” We have also encouraged the management of each of our stores to involve themselves with their respective local communities. From these efforts we provide hundreds of thousands of dollars in charitable donations every year. In Canada over the last 5 years we have raised well over $1.0 million dollars for Easter Seals through our sponsorship of the 24 Hour Relay.
Products and Services
Customers typically use our stores or other distribution networks to cash checks (payroll, government and personal), obtain short-term or longer-term consumer loans and use one or more of the additional financial services and ancillary products available at most locations including Western Union money order and money transfer products, electronic tax filing, bill payment, reloadable VISA® and MasterCard® brand debit cards, foreign currency exchange, photo ID, prepaid local and long-distance phone services, gold buying and legal document processing services. In the United Kingdom, we also offer pawn lending services.
Check Cashing. Customers may cash all types of checks at our check cashing locations, including payroll checks, government checks and personal checks. In exchange for a verified check, customers receive cash immediately and do not have to wait several days for the check to clear. Before we distribute any cash, we verify both the customer’s identification and the validity of the check (occasionally using multiple sources) as required by our standard verification procedures. Customers are charged a fee for this service (typically a small percentage of the face value of the check). The fee varies depending on the size and type of check cashed as well as the customer’s check cashing history at our stores. For fiscal 2008, check cashing fees averaged approximately 3.74% of the face value of checks cashed. For fiscal 2009, check cashing fees averaged approximately 3.66% of the face value of checks cashed.






