Noto's Big Job At SoFi

The new CEO, a Twitter veteran, has choices to make about how the fintech company lends

- Julie Verhage & Selina Wang

As chief operating officer of Twitter Inc., Anthony Noto did a lot to calm the company’s perpetually anxious shareholders. He started as the head of finance but became second in command after management shakeups. On Feb. 26, however, Noto took over as chief executive officer of a financial technology startup, Social Finance Inc., or SoFi. Once again, he’s stepping into a leadership gap at a company with big ambitions—and some big headaches.

With an online-only business model, SoFi has become the largest student-loan-refinancing business in the U.S. And it’s aiming for more: to beat traditional banks by targeting millennials with products ranging from insurance and mortgages to wealth management and checking accounts. But in early September, CEO Mike Cagney left SoFi after allegations that some managers sexually harassed employees. Amid the turmoil, the company withdrew its application for an industrial loan charter, which would allow it to collect FDIC insured deposits.

Noto hasn’t signaled any big changes in direction. “We’re going to focus now on continuing to execute on the strategic plan and build out our muscle and strength that would give us the option to be a public company at some point,” he told Bloomberg News on his first day on the job.