Jul 9, 2020 - Economy & Business

SoFi applies for a bank charter (again)

Illustration of piggy bank with sunglasses. Dollar bills sticking out of the piggy bank.

Illustration: Eniola Odetunde/Axios

SoFi, the fin-tech "unicorn" best known for refinancing student loans, has applied again for a bank charter with the Office of the Currency Comptroller, the company tells Axios.

Flashback: SoFi first sought a bank license in 2017 so it could offer deposit accounts, but withdrew its application following the ouster of former CEO Mike Cagney.

SoFi provided the following statement from CEO Anthony Noto:

"SoFi is on a mission to help our members achieve financial independence to realize their ambitions. We firmly believe that by pursuing a national bank charter, we will be able to help even more people get their money right with enhanced value and more products and services."
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