Fintech platform Jiko has snapped up Minnesota’s Mid-Central National Bank – previously Mid-Central Federal Savings Bank.

The acquisition was closed following the green light from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.

Details of Jiko

Jiko is headed by Stephane Lintner, previously a trader at American investment bank Goldman Sachs.

Based in California, Jiko does not hold customer deposits.

Rather it enables customer money to be pushed into government-backed US Treasury Bills (T-Bills).

These T-Bills are liquidated when a customer uses a debit card or withdraws money from an ATM.

Jiko merges payment rails with real-time, principal trading capabilities on T-bills.

The firm intends to roll out a fluid mobile app for the general public soon.

Jiko CEO and co-founder Stephane Lintner said: “The past decade of fintech and online banking innovations has exposed new customers to our industry and demonstrated that innovation in the financial sector is needed.

“People’s relationship to money must be fundamentally improved for everyone. One of Jiko’s primary goals is to give people what they deserve: more organic and direct returns, without intermediaries and unnecessary friction.”

In July this year, digital bank Varo Money secured national bank charter to operate as a bank across the US.

The firm is the first consumer fintech in the US to get such an approval.