While the marketplace or online lending industry has been hammered recently with negative news, WSJ.com is reporting that Moody’s has delivered the highest rating possible for a new bond deal coming out of SoFi. According to the report, the most recent bond securitization deal merited a triple A rating from Moody’s – the first ever for a marketplace lender. The top rating reduces the cost of the financing for SoFi and also allows some new institutional money, specifically highly risk adverse funds, to step in and invest. Good news all around.
SoFi describes itself as a “modern finance company”. Its mission has been to replace traditional banks. The iconoclastic firm received the largest Fintech funding round ever to the tune of $1 billion courtesy of SoftBank in the Fall of 2015. The war chest gives Sofi plenty of room to get creative and “redefine consumer expectations” for financial service firms.