Cash America 2010 Annual Report Download - page 48

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maintain certain of its communication systems and computerized point-of-sale and information systems. The failure of
such third parties to fulfill their support and maintenance obligations could disrupt the Company’s operations.
The Company’s operations in Mexico, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada are subject to political or
regulatory changes or significant changes in the economic environment and other concerns.
Significant regulatory or political changes in Mexico or changes in Mexico’s economic environment could
restrict the ability of the Company to sustain or expand its pawn operations in Mexico, which could materially
adversely affect the Company’s business, prospects, results of operations and financial condition and could impair the
Company’s ability to continue current operations in Mexico. In Mexico, restrictions and regulations affecting pawn
services, including licensing restrictions, disclosure requirements and limits on interest rates could be proposed from
time to time. The Company also maintains business relationships with significant third party service providers of labor
and technology services. The failure of these or other key service providers to fulfill their obligations as a result of
regulatory, political, economic or other factors could disrupt the Company’s operations in Mexico. Mexico is also
subject to other potential risks and uncertainties that are beyond the Company’s control, such as violence, social unrest,
enforcement of property rights and public safety and security that could restrict or eliminate the Company’s ability to
operate some or all of its locations in Mexico or significantly reduce customer traffic or demand.
In addition, the Company offers consumer loans, either directly or through an independent third-party lender,
over the internet to customers in Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom. If political, regulatory or economic
conditions deteriorate in any of these countries, the Company’s ability to continue making consumer loans in such
countries could be limited and could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s foreign operations.
Current and future litigation or regulatory proceedings could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s
business, prospects, results of operations and financial condition.
The Company is currently subject to lawsuits that could cause it to incur substantial expenditures and generate
adverse publicity. The Company is also likely to be subject to further litigation in the future. The consequences of an
adverse ruling in any current or future litigation could cause the Company to have to refund fees and/or interest
collected, refund the principal amount of advances, pay treble or other multiple damages, pay monetary penalties
and/or modify or terminate the Company’s operations in particular states. Defense of any lawsuit, even if successful,
could require substantial time and attention of the Company’s management and could require the expenditure of
significant amounts for legal fees and other related costs. Settlement of lawsuits may also result in significant
payments and modifications to the Company’s operations. The Company is also subject to regulatory proceedings, and
the Company could suffer losses from interpretations of state laws in those regulatory proceedings, even if it is not a
party to those proceedings. Any of these events could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business,
prospects, results of operations and financial condition and could impair the Company’s ability to continue current
operations.
A 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 of operations and financial condition.
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 regulatory restrictions that reduce customer access
to particular products, the availability of competing products or changes in customers’ financial conditions. 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 or introduce new products to
fulfill customer demand, 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 consumer loan operations of the Company and the products it offers.
The failure to successfully integrate newly acquired businesses into the Company’s operations could negatively
impact the Company’s performance.