Social Finance Inc, or SoFi, said on Tuesday it would buy community bank Golden Pacific Bancorp for about $22.3 million in an all-cash deal, accelerating the online lender’s push to become a national bank.
SoFi said it would pay $2.55 for every share of Sacramento, California-based Golden Pacific.
Separately, SoFi also announced the launch of its first-ever credit card.
In January, the startup was valued at $8.65 billion in a deal with a blank-check firm backed by veteran investor Chamath Palihapitiya.
Founded in 2011, SoFi capitalized on the retrenchment of banks from large swaths of consumer lending in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis.
Last year, the online lender acquired payments platform Galielo for $1.2 billion.
Source: Reuters.com