Amy Pugh, general counsel of Green Dot. Courtesy photo

Digital bank and fintech firm Green Dot Corp. has appointed Amy Pugh as general counsel.

Pugh replaces Kristina Lockwood, who is retiring after almost two decades with the Austin, Texas-based company. Lockwood joined Green Dot as associate general counsel in 2004 and spent the last two years as general counsel.

Pugh joins Green Dot from Cross River Bank, where she's worked three years, most recently serving as senior corporate counsel.

Green Dot CEO Dan Henry said Pugh will be critical in advancing the company's growth strategy while helping to "mitigate risk and ensure compliance across the board."

Prior to Cross River Bank, Pugh served as senior vice president of legal and chief compliance officer at Ubiquity Global Services, a business process outsourcing firm. Previously, she was legal counsel and chief compliance officer at Unirush, a prepaid debit card provider recently acquired by Green Dot—and counsel at Fifth Third Bank.

In a statement, Pugh said she felt compelled to assist Green Dot because of its "strong history, diverse and differentiated set of assets, and renewed growth strategy."

She said her past experiences have shaped and made her an ideal candidate for this role.

"Having gained deep understanding of our industry and also seeing the unusual from time to time. My experience at Fifth Third gave me a strong foundation in banking. At Rushcard, I became familiar with the program management side. At Ubiquity Global Services, we were a Fintech that supported banks. Finally, I supported Cross River, a fintech bank, through a time of growth and new product creation," she said.

Green Dot launched in 1999 and is a major issuer of prepaid credit cards. It also serves as a branchless bank accessible to customers through more than 90,000 retail locations nationwide. In addition, it provides its technology to major consumer brands, including Apple and Walmart, through partnerships.

Pugh said working in a heavily regulated industry presents its own unique requirements and challenges, which excite and inspire her.

"I like to think of these requirements as a roadmap to continued improvement and success," she said.

Green Dot's stock price has fallen by more than two-thirds over the last three years, driven down partly by fierce competition in the fintech sector.