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Nelnet on Wednesday said it received approval to start its own bank.

The Lincoln-based student finance company said its application was approved by both the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the Utah Department of Financial Institutions.

The bank, which is what's called an industrial bank, will operate as in internet bank with a home office based in Salt Lake City.

Nelnet had originally filed an application to create the bank in June 2018 and then withdrew it in September 2018 following "constructive dialogue" with the two banking agencies. It said at the time that it considered the withdrawal temporary and planned to modify the application and resubmit it. It resubmitted the application last November.

Nelnet has said the bank will focus on providing private student loans and offering refinancing options to people with existing student loans. It also would offer deposit accounts.

Nelnet said it plans to fund the bank itself with an initial capital commitment of $100 million.

The company still has a number of regulatory milestones to hit with both the FDIC and the Utah agency, and it said it has not established a timeline for opening the bank, which will operate as a subsidiary company and have its own board of directors.