Cash America 2007 Annual Report Download - page 34

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14
General Counsel. Before joining the Company, he was in private law practice with Kelly, Hart & Hallman,
P.C., Fort Worth, Texas, for five years. He received his law degree from the University of Kansas School of
Law in 1990.
Dennis J. Weese joined the Company as Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer –
Retail Services Division in September 2007. Prior to joining the Company, Mr. Weese was Chief Operating
Officer of On The Border Mexican Grill and Cantina, a restaurant company within the Brinker International
family of restaurants from July 2004 until September 2007. He also served in a number of Vice President
and Director Level positions at Limited Inc. from May 2001 until July 2004, and with YUM Brands from
September 1990 to May 2001. He is a graduate of the United States Military Academy, and has earned a
master's degree in business administration from Auburn University and a master's degree in business
management from the University of Central Texas.
ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS
Important risk factors that could cause results or events to differ from current expectations are
described below. These factors are not intended to be an all-encompassing list of risks and uncertainties that
may affect the operations, performance, development and results of the Company’s business.
xA decreased demand for the Company’s products and specialty financial services and failure of
the Company to adapt to such decrease could adversely affect results. Although the Company’s
products and services are a staple of its customer base, the demand for a particular product or service
may decrease due to a variety of factors, such as the availability of competing products, changes in
customers’ financial conditions, or regulatory restrictions that reduce customer access to particular
products. Should the Company fail to adapt to a significant change in its customers’ demand for, or
access to, its products, the Company’s revenues could decrease significantly. Even if the Company does
make adaptations, customers may resist or may reject products whose adaptations make them less
attractive or less available. In any event, the effect of any product change on the results of the
Company’s business may not be fully ascertainable until the change has been in effect for some time. In
particular, the Company has changed, and will continue to change, some of the cash advance products
and services it offers due to regulatory guidelines that have a direct or indirect effect on the governance
of the Company and the products it offers.
xAdverse changes in laws or regulations affecting the Company’s short-term consumer loan
services could negatively impact the Company’s operations. The Company’s products and services
are subject to extensive regulation and supervision under various federal, state and local laws,
ordinances and regulations. The Company faces the risk that restrictions or limitations resulting from
the enactment, change, or interpretation of laws and regulations could negatively affect the Company’s
business activities. In particular, short-term consumer loans have come under increased regulatory
scrutiny in recent years that has resulted in increasingly restrictive regulations. Some regulatory activity
may limit the number of short-term loans that customers may receive or have outstanding, and
regulations adopted by some states requiring that all borrowers of certain short-term loan products be
listed on a database and limiting the number of such loans they may have outstanding; and regulations
limiting the availability of the Company’s cash advance products to active duty military personnel.
Certain consumer advocacy groups and federal and state legislators have also asserted that laws and
regulations should be tightened so as to severely limit, if not eliminate, the availability of certain cash
advance products to consumers, despite the significant demand for it. Legislation relating to cash
advances is pending in some state legislatures. Adoption of such federal and state regulations or
legislation could restrict, or even eliminate, the availability of cash advance products in some or all of
the states in which the Company offers a short term cash advance product.
In addition to state and federal laws and regulations, our business is subject to various local rules and
regulations such as local zoning regulation and permit licensing. We have seen efforts by local
jurisdictions to restrict pawnshop operations and cash advance lending through the use of local zoning