Angel Oak Cos., a vertically integrated asset management company offering mortgage and consumer credit solutions, has appointed David Raju its Group Chief Information Officer.
Raju was the founder & CEO of Covience, an advisory services and banking-as-a-service platform that Angel Oak acquired in September. In his new role, he will oversee the development, optimization, and integration of technology to improve the digital transformation across all Angel Oak companies.
“We’re looking to reimagine the digitization of mortgage banking and asset management through the use of our vast amount of data,” Raju said. “By focusing on how we leverage our technology, we believe we can improve our business and, more importantly, enhance the client experience — whether that is in our residential and commercial lending or our asset management businesses.”
Angel Oak is a non-agency lender and structured credit asset management firm. Its lending platform is composed of the specialized wholesale and correspondent non-QM lender Angel Oak Mortgage Solutions and the full-service retail mortgage lender Angel Oak Home Loans.
The company said that, because it has vertically integrated the mortgage origination and investment processes, it is well positioned to capitalize on digitization, which is a core part of its business model. It will also look to improve its technological capabilities by partnering with existing plug-and-play solutions, the company said.
Before it acquired Covience, Angel Oak also made a strategic investment into Asset Class, a financial technology firm based in Dublin, Ireland.
“Whether it is becoming more efficient and better monetizing our data, or implementing bolder ideas, such as moving to the blockchain, Angel Oak intends to remain on the forefront of digital innovation in the mortgage and asset management industries,” Raju said.
Before founding Covience, Raju held various executive level positions, including serving as chief technology and operations officer at Ally Canada. More recently, he was president and CEO at Zag Bank, a digital bank owned by financial cooperative Desjardins Group.
Raju earned an MBA in Corporate Finance and a Master of Science in Information Assurance from the University of Dallas.
