Former Deutsche Bank co-chief executive Anshu Jain is joining San Francisco-based online lender SoFi in an advisory role.
Jain joins a long roll call of banking establishment heavyweights to enter the ring with a bank-bashing fintech upstart.
SoFi, which scooped $1 billion in funding from a SoftBank-led consortium of investors in October, has been profitable since 2014. Envisaging a 'bankless world', the alternative lender was the first company to enable graduates to consolidate and refinance their federal and private student loans.
Since that time, the company has expanded its offerings to include mortgages, mortgage refinancing, and personal loans.
It has so far funded almost $8 billion in loans and will be looking to tap Jain's expertise as it bids to shore up sources of long-term capital in tightening credit markets.
SoFi co-founder and CEO Mike Cagney says Jain's “experience of having spent a lifetime in markets…will prove to be invaluable to us".