Fintech Lender SoFi Renews Bid to Become a National Bank

Online lender Social Finance, Inc. has renewed its push to form a bank, applying to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency for a full-service national banking charter.

The move is a bid to compete directly with traditional banks on products marketed to younger customers, partially funding loans it issues through deposits without the additional costs of a banking partner.

If successful, SoFi would join the ranks of Square, Inc. and Varo Money in financial technology companies that became banks.

The nine-year-old company is best known for student lending but has expanded in recent years into mortgage and consumer ...