American digital lender SoFi is expanding into Asia after buying the parent firm of Hong Kong-based online brokerage 8 Securities, the firm announced today. Financial terms were not disclosed.
The acquisition, still subject to closing conditions, will enable the launch of SoFi Invest in Hong Kong.
The mobile platform will offer locals access to brokerage, automated investing, and ETFs, all within the SoFi ecosystem, complete with commission-free trading.
“We underwent an extensive evaluation process when considering our first international market, and it was clear that Hong Kong, a financial capital of Asia, is ripe for innovation and a launching pad for further expansion in both product and geography”, Anthony Noto, CEO at SoFi, says.
He adds that leveraging the learnings from the SoFi Invest platform in the US, SoFi can meet the needs of both experienced and novice investors alike in Hong Kong, all in support of the firm’s overall efforts to make headway on our mission to help people get their money right.
Rapid expansion
San Francisco-headquartered firm SoFi was founded in 2011 and provides student loan financing, mortgages, personal loans, investing and banking.
The company has been expanding aggressively over the past few years.
While this is SoFi’s first move into new territories, the company has previously used acquisitions to enter new markets.
Earlier this month, the firm paid $1.2 billion for financial services API and payments platform Galileo Financial Services. In 2017 it bought financial technology company Zenbanx. Last year, SoFi teamed up with Coinbase to add the ability to trade cryptocurrencies within the overall SoFi Invest platform.
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