Aliya today announced it is emerging from stealth with the launch of aliyaOS, a closed-loop lending operating system designed to help banks make better lending decisions continuously, responsibly, and at scale.
Aliya was founded by S.P. “Wije” Wijegoonaratna and Robert Citrone, two global macro investors widely known as “Tiger Cubs.” Before founding Aliya, Wijegoonaratna and Citrone spent decades managing capital and risk across economic cycles at firms including Discovery Capital Management (founded by Citrone), Tiger Management, Moore Capital, Fortress Investment Group and Banyan Fund Management—operating within an investing lineage shaped by Julian Robertson and George Soros.
That background in capital allocation, downside protection, and systems-level thinking directly informs Aliya’s approach to banking technology, differentiating it from traditional fintech and point-solution providers.
“Banking is entering a period of structural change, significant regulatory easing, AI and macro shifts,” said Wijegoonaratna, CEO of Aliya. “In volatile environments, static, point-in-time credit decisions break down. Capital markets have long managed risk as a continuous process. Aliya was built to bring that same discipline into bank lending, in a way that works inside real regulatory and operating constraints.”
Battle-Tested Over Eight Years Inside a U.S. Mega Bank — Over $30 billion in Loans Decisioned
After more than eight years of development and real-world operation inside a highly conservative, OCC-regulated U.S. mega bank, aliyaOS is now available to community and regional banks seeking to improve earnings durability, efficiency ratios, and customer outcomes—without increasing balance sheet risk.
Unlike traditional lending platforms that rely on episodic underwriting and static risk models, aliyaOS embeds governed, state-of-the-art risk decisioning, straight-through processing, and continuous feedback directly into lending workflows. The result is an always-on lending capability that allows banks to act intelligently in real time while maintaining strong regulatory and risk controls.
“Aliya helps banks use their own, as well as competitor banks’, account data to increase lending and lower risk. Wije and his team have leveraged decades of investment and risk management experience to build a platform that enables banks to make smarter, better-informed decisions in the digital banking landscape of today.” – John Maxfield, Maxfield on Banks
aliyaOS uses bank account transaction data to create a real-time, cash-flow-based view of borrower affordability and behavior, allowing loans to be right-sized, structured appropriately, and monitored continuously after origination. This closed-loop approach reduces loss volatility, improves pricing accuracy, and enables proactive risk management throughout the life of the loan.
During its development inside a U.S. mega bank, aliyaOS supported over $30 billion in lending decisions and helped transform manual lending programs into 24/7 automated, self-optimizing workflows with materially higher returns and significantly lower unit costs.
“Better information doesn’t increase risk—it reallocates it more intelligently,” Wijegoonaratna added. “Our goal is to give banks proven, regulated operational intelligence so they can serve more customers, strengthen their franchises, and compound shareholder value responsibly.”
Aliya is currently engaging with select community and regional banks and plans a phased expansion over the coming year.
