With a conditional approval of its deal to buy Sacramento-based Golden Pacific Bancorp Inc., shares in digital banking company SoFi Technologies Inc. rose sharply Wednesday.
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency announced its conditional approval of SoFi’s acquisition of Golden Pacific after stock markets closed Tuesday. Following the announcement, shares in SoFi (Nasdaq: SOFI) popped up 13.7% in trading Wednesday to close at $13.71, up $1.65. And that was on a day when the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 1%.
The deal will provide SoFi with a national bank charter, which could help it offer competitive interest rates and provide its members high-yielding interest in checking and savings accounts.
On the ground in Sacramento, it shores up the balance sheet of Golden Pacific Bancorp’s primary subsidiary, Golden Pacific Bank, said Virginia Varela, CEO of Golden Pacific, via email.
“Now with the regulatory pathway cleared, we expect the transaction to close in the coming weeks, at which point Golden Pacific Bank employees will officially become SoFi employees, Golden Pacific branches will be rebranded as SoFi and all Golden Pacific Bank customers will be invited to become SoFi members,” she said. “We will continue our commitment to bringing more services and convenience for our individual customers, small businesses and the communities that we serve in Sacramento and surrounding counties."
As part of the transaction, SoFi will contribute $750 million in capital to the bank to support its national operation, and SoFi Bank will continue to operate Golden Pacific Bank’s community banking operation with three branches in Sacramento, Live Oak and Yuba City.
Varela said all Golden Pacific Bank staff will remain fully employed, and the bank’s branches will stay open.
Varela will become an officer of SoFi and she will be president of Golden Pacific Bank, a division of SoFi Bank.
SoFi announced the acquisition last March.
On Tuesday, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the national bank regulator, gave conditional approval for the acquisition and the creation of SoFi Bank, a full-service national bank headquartered in Cottonwood Heights, Utah.
The approval is for a digital version of a traditional banking operation. The approval does not allow crypto assets or activities.
SoFi has nearly 3 million members who use digital services including borrowing, saving, spending and investing. That is up from 1.8 million members less than a year ago when SoFi announced the acquisition.
