Frequently Asked Questions
Jiko is a federally regulated bank and broker-dealer powered by proprietary technology that invests deposits directly in US Treasury bills. Jiko is de-levered for systematic safety and scale, meaning it does not provide any other banking or brokerage services such as underwriting or proprietary trading.
Individuals can download the Jiko app (iOS or Android) to apply for a Jiko account. Applicants must be US citizens or permanent residents 18 years or older.
Business customers get a fully transparent view of their T-bills holdings, including bank transactions, trades, confirmations, positions, and real-time portfolio values.
The Jiko Partner API enables partners to integrate money storage and movement. This includes:
- Onboarding customers
- Funding customer accounts via ACH or Wire
- Viewing and managing accounts (including monthly statements and trade confirmations)
- Making payments and transfers via ACH, Wire, On-Us (Book) Transfer or Debit Card
Treasury bills (T-bills) are the shortest-term issuance of debt from the US Government.
Owning a T-bill is lending to the US Treasury and its full faith over a horizon no longer than 52 weeks.
In the current economic environment, T-bills offer a particularly attractive alternative to products such as Money Market Funds or bank deposits due to their relative safety and yield.
For US companies, some state tax exemptions apply to T-bills earnings.
Money held at Jiko is invested directly in Treasury bills, one of the safest assets available since they’re 100% backed by the full faith and credit of the US Treasury.
Your T-bills are held in a segregated account at BNY Mellon, lien-free and in full compliance with the SEC's customer protection rule SEA 15c3-3.
All customer assets are held off-balance sheet, away from potential bank liquidity issues.
Yes. In 2020, Jiko became one of the first fintech companies to obtain the approvals required to purchase its own national bank.
Yes. Complete the “Get in touch” form to speak with a team member about partnerships.
You can add funds to your Jiko account by visiting the ‘Move Money’ tab in the Jiko app and creating an ACH Portal. Once you’ve created an ACH Portal, you can click on it to retrieve the account number and routing number.
Connecting a financial institution:
Log in to your account at any financial institution and initiate a transfer to Jiko using the account and routing numbers associated with an ACH Portal you’ve opened. You can add funds by initiating transfers from your financial institution.
Set up direct deposit:
By providing the account and routing number associated with your ACH Portal to your employer, you can set up direct deposits into your Jiko account.
Note: if your financial institution requests the type of account associated with the Portal account number, please indicate that it’s a checking account.
Business clients can transfer money into and out of Jiko by initiating a wire transfer, just like a regular bank account.
Account balances and transfers can be tracked and managed through the Jiko Business Dashboard.
Your T-bills are bankable because Jiko owns and operates a national bank and broker-dealer, both running on our proprietary technology platform.
Our automatic trading technology immediately sweeps customer cash to our broker-dealer to buy T-bills when a deposit is made. When customers need access to their money, our broker-dealer liquidates T-bills in real-time, 24/7, and cash is sent to the specified destination.
Jiko Group, Inc. (JGI) is a bank holding company regulated by the Federal Reserve. JGI has three primary operating subsidiaries: Jiko Technologies, Inc.; Jiko Bank, which is a division of Mid-Central National Bank (MCNB; MCNB is a wholly owned subsidiary of JGI); and Jiko Securities, Inc., a registered broker-dealer”
- Jiko Technologies, Inc. builds and operates Jiko’s privacy-first cloud-based infrastructure
- Jiko Bank, which is regulated by the OCC, provides banking rails for payments and transfers
- Jiko Securities, Inc., a FINRA-registered carrying firm and a member of SIPC, conducts all trading on behalf of Jiko customers.
There are no minimums for funding your Jiko account. However, investments in T-bills are made in $100 increments. You need at least $100 in your Jiko brokerage account before your funds will be invested in T-bills.
For example, if you have $150 in your account, only $100 of it will be invested. The balance ($50) will be held as cash in your Jiko brokerage account until you reach a higher amount.
While there’s no limit to possible use cases of our money storage and movement solution, partners include treasury management platforms, consumer fintech, and other banks.
Jiko’s primary revenue stream comes from a fee charged on assets under management.
Yield to Maturity is the rate of return on your T-bill investment, assuming you hold the position until maturity. It takes into account the price you paid and the holding period of your investment, and it shows the rate of return as an annualized rate.
When comparing yields, it’s important to note that there are different methods for calculating yield. Jiko uses a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) formula with the actual day count (365 days, 366 in leap years). Other commonly used calculation methods are the Discount Yield method and Bond Equivalent Yield method. Any time you are comparing yields across different sources, it’s important to make sure they are using the same formula to calculate yield.
Unless otherwise stated, Jiko calculates Yield to Maturity before fees. Any fees assessed will reduce your realized yield.
Jiko has achieved SOC 2 and PCI certifications and utilizes cloud-based infrastructure with robust data encryption. The SOC 2 certification validates the effectiveness of Jiko’s internal controls, safeguarding the security and privacy of customer information. Meanwhile, PCI certification ensures the secure handling of payment card data. Jiko’s lock-tight systems are monitored 24/7 by a dedicated team of security professionals.
You can use Jiko Debit Cards to spend directly from your account. When you swipe your card, T-bills are instantly liquidated to fund the amount of your purchase.
Your Jiko Solid Debit Card can be used in person to make purchases. Order one from the Jiko app by visiting the "Cards" tab and tapping "Jiko Solid."
As an added safety feature, your Jiko Solid Debit Card does not display your card information. You may create a virtual debit card to access card information for online purchases by visiting the “Cards” tab in the Jiko app and tapping “Virtual Card.” The information needed to make online or phone transactions will be displayed in the Virtual Card tab for your ease of use.
Jiko supports both retail and commercial accounts.
Yes. However, Jiko can’t open accounts for businesses and individuals in the following countries due to sanctions compliance risk. Please note that this list is subject to change at any moment without notification:
Cuba
Iran
North Korea
Russian Federation
Syria
Sudan
South Sudan
Ukraine
Jiko Personal
As of November 1st, 2024, Jiko will charge an account maintenance fee on balances, debited monthly.
Jiko Corporate
Jiko Corporate fees run as low as 1bp per month on assets held at Jiko.
Jiko API
Contact our sales team to learn more about our competitive pricing for the Jiko API.
The APY (Annual Percentage Yield)represents the earnings on an interest-bearing time deposit account in a year, expressed as a percentage.
Yield to Maturity is the rate of return on your T-bill investment, assuming you hold the position until maturity. It takes into account the price you paid and the holding period of your investment, and it shows the rate of return as an annualized rate.
Currently, the per transaction and daily limit is $505, and that limit is combined with the use of both the Jiko Virtual Debit Card for Online & Phone transactions and Jiko Solid™ Debit Card. Please see the Limitations Disclosure for more information.
Jiko supports businesses operating in most industries except the following:
Weapons Dealers
Control Substances
Medical Devices
Animal & Animal Products
Precious Metals
Adult Entertainment
When you purchase T-bills at Jiko, we show Yield to Maturity (YTM) on your trade confirmation. We calculate this Yield to Maturity using the formula below:
YTM = ( ( par value / price ) ^ ( day count / days to maturity ) ) - 1
Par Value - $100 for T-bill
Price - the price you paid for the T-bill.
Day count - the number of days in a year (365 for normal years and 366 for leap years).
Days to maturity - the number of calendar days to the T-bill’s maturity, calculated from the regular settlement date after the T-bill trade date.
For example, suppose that on Friday, November 17th, 2023, you purchase a T-bill maturing on December 12th, 2023, at a price of $99.70 per $100 of par value. The number of days to maturity is calculated from Monday, November 20th, the next regular settlement date. Therefore, there are 21 days to maturity. This gives a yield to maturity of ( $100 / $99.70 ) ^ ( 365 / 21 ) - 1 = 5.36%.
Yield to maturity for your current holdings uses the same formula, but the price used in the calculation is the latest quote instead of your purchase price, and the days to maturity is adjusted accordingly.
Please note that this example is for illustrative purposes only and actual results may vary. Unless otherwise stated, Jiko calculates Yield to Maturity before fees. Any fees assessed will reduce your realized yield.
- To report a bug, ask a question, or provide technical feedback for Jiko Personal, please email support@jiko.io.
- Jiko Corporate clients can email account.support@jiko.io for support or information.
- Jiko API clients can reach our partner support team by emailing partner.support@jiko.io
- To report a concern or issue regarding ethics and compliance, please email us at compliance@jiko.io.
- Please email all security-related issues to security@jiko.io.
The card timer is a feature designed to keep your account safe from possible fraudsters or bad actors attempting to perform unauthorized transactions. When the timer is not activated, your Jiko Solid™ Debit Card will not process swipe transactions, keeping you safe from one of the most vulnerable transaction types.
A majority of our users’ transactions (close to 80%) are chip transactions, which do not require you to activate the card timer. The timer for your Jiko Solid™ Debit Card is only needed for swipe transactions, where chip transactions are unavailable.
Typical businesses that will swipe are restaurants, gas stations, bars, corner stores, and older establishments.
Contact our sales team by completing the “Get in touch” form on our website.
There are different methods of yield calculation that are used in the market. Common methods of calculation used in the market are Discount Yield and Bond Equivalent Yield.
Discount Yield is based on 360 days in a year following the market practice for quoting the yield for T-bills. The use of 360 for the days in a year is a convention developed before calculators were readily available but the dealers still use this method for quoting T-bill yields.
Bond Equivalent Yield (or Coupon Equivalent Yield) is used to compare the annual yield to bonds that pay periodic interests on an equivalent basis.
Using the same example above:
Discount Yield = ( (par value - price) / par value ) * ( day count / days to maturity) = (($100 - $99.70) / $100 ) * (360 / 21) = 5.14%
Bond Equivalent Yield = ( (par value - price) / price ) * ( day count / days to maturity) = (($100 - $99.70) / $99.7 ) * (365 / 21) = 5.23%
Jiko’s YTM = ( ( par value / price ) ^ ( day count / days to maturity ) ) - 1 = ( $100 / $99.70 ) ^ ( 365 / 21 ) - 1 = 5.36%.
The Yield to Maturity from Jiko uses the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) formula and actual day count (365, or 366 for leap years). This is an annualized rate of return, giving you a better picture of the return on your investment.
Please note that this example is for illustrative purposes only and actual results may vary. Unless otherwise stated, Jiko calculates Yield to Maturity before fees. Any fees assessed will reduce your realized yield. Any fees assessed will reduce your realized yield.
You’ll receive 1% cash back on qualifying purchases when you spend with your Jiko Solid™ Debit Card or your Virtual Cards.
A Trusted Contact is a person you authorize Jiko to contact in limited circumstances. We may disclose information about your account to this person:
- to address possible financial exploitation
- to confirm the specifics of your current contact information
- to confirm the identity of any legal guardian, executor, trustee or holder of a power of attorney
Please note that a Trusted Contact must be 18 years or older and is not a beneficiary. A Trusted Contact will not have access to your account and will not have the ability to make any transactions in your account.
To assign a Trusted Contact, you’ll need to provide the name, phone number, email address, and mailing address (optional) of a trusted person using this form.
You can update your Trusted Contact at any point by contacting our Member Support team.
To withdraw funds from your Jiko account, you must log in to your external financial institution and request to pull or transfer the funds from your Jiko account into your external institution.
Jiko was founded by a team of ex-bankers and engineers who experienced the 2008 financial crisis first-hand. While on the trading floor of Goldman Sachs, our founder imagined a pure system free from the risks of traditional banking, where people and businesses could hold their cash in the source of democratic money – US Treasury bills – but utilize it just like any other checking account.
In 2016, Jiko was founded to achieve just that. It took several years to raise the necessary capital, acquire our national bank charter, and establish the registered broker-dealer and custodian relationship with BNY Mellon.
After establishing the regulatory foundation, we got to work creating a powerhouse API that turns our unique vertically integrated financial institution into a magical building block of safer and more universal and efficient banking at scale.
Yes. During the partner due diligence process, we’ll grant access to a fully-featured sandbox environment.
Yes. Since some of your T-bills are sold when you spend or liquidate funds, you will receive both interest income and capital gains/losses from your T-bill investment.
Investment gains and losses as well as interest income must all be declared to the IRS. Please contact your tax advisor for advice specific to your situation. Jiko does not offer tax or legal advice.
When tax season comes around, you’ll receive documents in January and in February as required by law. You can find them in the “Profile” tab of the Jiko app.
If you earned $10 or more in interest income last year, you will receive a 1099-INT and will have to report that income on your tax return. If you earned less than $10 in interest with Jiko, we will not provide tax documents since you are not required to report interest income of less than $10 to the IRS.
We will also be providing you with Form 1099-B showing the trades that have occurred in your brokerage account and the resulting gains and losses