Jiko Group has completed its acquisition of Mid-Central National Bank in Wadena, Minnesota for some fintech-on-bank action.
There are no financial details but California-based Jiko is building a money platform in the US and this deal will help.
You may recall February’s news, when fintech firm LendingClub said it to plans to acquire Radius Bank for $185 million. That transaction was expected to close in the 12 to 15 months from that month. In a blog post last month, LendingClub was waffling on about it and reasons for the acquisition.
Anyway, Jiko is first and its acquisition has been approved by the Federal Reserve and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. It will roll out its platform to the general public “soon”, after three years of R&D, testing and auditing. Its website is a holding page for now with a waitlist. It offers $99 per year for exclusive platform access – and is “a new foundation for money”.
Stephane Lintner, Co-Founder and CEO, Jiko, states: “One of Jiko’s primary goals is to give people what they deserve: more organic and direct returns, without intermediaries and unnecessary friction.”
The plan is to keep its customers directly invested in liquid US government-backed Treasury Bills (T-bills), instead of holding customer deposits. Via its proprietary technology, an investment can act as a liquid and “spendable alternative to cash”.
Lintner’s work experience is interesting. It includes Goldman Sachs and a staff scientist role at Caltech.
By the way, in Japanese the word ‘jiko’ can have various meanings – such as accident, reasons, incident or circumstance.
Jiko will have plenty of challenger bank rivals in the US.
Names include Chime, Simba, Dave, FV Bank, Upgrade, Point, Aspiration, HMBradley, Oxygen, Grasshopper, Karat, Joust, Unifimoney, Be Money, Purple, Varo Money, Square, SoFi, N26, Revolut and Monzo.