SoFi moving into traditional banking

Online lender and financial startup SoFi, with an office in Sonoma County, has taken the first step toward competing with the nation’s biggest banks on their home turf: the checking account.

Last week, the San Francisco provider of student and personal loans submitted an application for federal deposit insurance, a protection normally only available to conventional banks. In its application, the company said its SoFi Bank subsidiary will offer bread-and-butter banking products, including checking accounts, debit cards and eventually credit cards.

SoFi is one of a wave of new financial-technology, or “fintech,” startups that aim to reengineer the way Americans manage their savings, take out loans and pay for things.

The company, which has an office in Healdsburg, quickly branched into other products aimed primarily at millennials, including personal loans, mortgages, wealth management and, recently, insurance.

In 2015, in a Press Democrat story about the company’s Healdsburg satellite office, company officials identified millennials as a key customer base and traditional banks as competitors.

“Ultimately, we hope to completely displace the relationship with the bank,” said Mike Cagney, co-founder and chief executive officer of the San Francisco-headquartered firm.