Incentive to bring 400 finance sector jobs to Salt Lake County

A nonbank finance company will add an office in Utah, creating up to 400 jobs over the next five years.

Social Finance Inc., known as SoFi, has yet to select a location for the regional office but it is expected to be in Salt Lake County.

The company announced the expansion last week after being approved for a $1.15 million tax credit incentive by the Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED) board.

A nonbank finance company will add an office in Utah, creating up to 400 jobs over the next five years.

Social Finance Inc., known as SoFi, has yet to select a location for the regional office but it is expected to be in Salt Lake County.

The company announced the expansion last week after being approved for a $1.15 million tax credit incentive by the Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED) board.

Jerry Oldroyd, chairman of the GOED board’s incentives committee, said the company will be part of two of Utah’s economic clusters: technology and financial services.

“It would be a real key component to our financial services industry. … We look at this as an immense opportunity for the state of Utah,” Oldroyd said before the incentive vote.

Based in San Francisco, SoFi is a nonbank marketplace lender that provides student loan refinancing, mortgages and other types of loans, such as parent and personal loans. It has issued more than $8 million in mortgages, student loan refinancing and personal loans to about 125,000 members. In addition to the headquarters, it has another office in California plus offices in New York City, Chicago, Texas, Virginia and Montana. It has a total of 650 employees.

The company’s website describes it as a “modern finance company that’s fueling the shift to a bankless world.”

“Our radical approach delivers unprecedented services for lending and wealth management,” it says. “We evaluate applicants based on a holistic view of their financial well-being rather than a three digit score. Whether our members are looking to refinance their student loans, buy their dream home, or simply seek advice as they ascend in their careers, SoFi provides the best products and tools to match their ambitions and propel them to new levels of financial greatness.”

Chris Phillips, the company’s vice president of finance and corporate development, told the GOED board that SoFi’s target market is early career professionals: educated people between 25 and 45 years old.

“We think the cohort is about 12 million people. We have a little over 100,000 customers,” he said. “We think we have a long way to go.”

The $8 million Utah expansion project is expected to result in $108.9 million in new wages over five years and new state taxes of $5.8 million during that period.

“SoFi is an exciting disruptive company in both finance and technology,” Val Hale, GOED’s executive director, said in a prepared statement. “Utah has a strong financial sector and booming IT industry, and I believe SoFi will be right at home here. We look forward to the significant impact the company will have not only on our economy but the local community as well.”

“I’m very happy to welcome SoFi to Utah,” Jeff Edwards, president and chief executive officer of the Economic Development Corporation of Utah, said in a prepared statement. “They’ll be a fantastic addition to the state’s dynamic financial services industry and a great complement to the excellent companies already doing business in the state.”