According to company spokesmen, Meta Platforms, the owner of social media network Facebook, is behind a $60 million plan to buy the trademark assets of US regional bank Meta Financial Group.

The transaction demonstrates how significant the Meta brand has become to the technological behemoth, which is hoping that its focus on the metaverse – shared digital spaces accessed over the internet via a variety of devices – will pay off handsomely in the future years.

In a regulatory statement, Meta Financial stated that a Delaware company named Beige Key had agreed to buy the worldwide rights to its company names for $60 million in cash. It did not reveal the identity of the owner of Beige Key.

“Beige Key is associated with us, and we have purchased these trademark assets,” claimed a Meta Platforms representative. Meta Platforms’ involvement was also confirmed by a MetaBank spokesperson.

Meta Financial, in addition to offering products through its MetaBank subsidiary, such as consumer savings, loans and credit cards, and commercial lending, collaborates with institutions such as government agencies and financial technology firms to provide banking services with the goal of increasing financial inclusion.

In October, Facebook announced that its parent company has changed its name to Meta Platforms. The tech behemoth, which has aggressively invested in virtual and augmented reality, views the metaverse as the mobile internet’s heir.

Meta Platforms last week made its previously invite-only Horizon Worlds program, in which users of its Quest virtual reality headsets may play games and communicate as avatars, available to over-18 users in the United States and Canada.

The metaverse concept, which has surfaced on multiple Silicon Valley earnings calls and will necessitate collaboration among industry titans, might take more than a decade to fully realize.

According to a Meta Platforms spokesperson, the company had discussions with Meta Financial prior to Facebook’s name change.

Meta Financial stated in the filing that it began a brand strategy assessment early this year, but a MetaBank spokeswoman declined to comment on the discussions beyond the substance of the filing.