Corporate America Is Still Stuck on Banker’s Hours, Jiko Survey Finds

SAN FRANCISCO, July 21, 2026 — Jiko, the national bank and technology platform that replaces traditional cash deposits with direct, real-time investment in U.S. Treasury bills, today released its 2026 Corporate Cash Confidence Survey Report, examining the macro factors, priorities, and demand shaping corporate cash strategy today.

Treasury teams are navigating a volatile environment with persistent inflation, uncertain rate expectations, geopolitical tension, and lingering questions around banking stability. Against that backdrop, the survey finds companies remain constrained by legacy cash infrastructure despite growing demand for real-time liquidity.

81% of Treasurers Cannot Settle Transactions in Real Time 

While 76% of treasury and finance professionals consider the ability to settle transactions 24/7 important to their organization, only 19% can actually do it. That 57-point gap between expectation and operational capability has persisted for years. Among those who consider 24/7 settlement important, the top barriers are:

• Integration challenges with existing treasury or payment systems (31%)

• Counterparty or settlement risk concerns (21%)

• Fees or costs of real-time payment solutions (20%)

• Transaction limitations (17%)

“Banking should move at the speed that businesses operate. When the Fed's next move is uncertain and large enterprises are sitting on hundreds of millions of idle dollars, the cost of outdated treasury infrastructure is not an abstraction," said Stephane Lintner, Jiko CEO and Co-Founder. "The solution already exists. The question is how long organizations can afford to wait."

Hundreds of Millions May Be Sitting Idle at Large Enterprises

Treasurers are clear about their priorities: access to cash when needed ranks first (60%), risk mitigation and principal protection second (46%). Yield trails both. In the current environment, that ordering is rational, but comes at a cost.

Nearly 50% report that over 10% of their corporate cash sits uninvested at any given time, with 23% revealing that over 25% is sitting idle on a regular basis. For large enterprises,  that translates into potentially hundreds of millions of dollars generating no return.

The structural challenge is straightforward: cash earmarked for near-term payments has historically had to sacrifice yield for liquidity. Yet 89% of respondents said they would find value in a solution that holds cash directly in U.S. Treasury bills while maintaining immediate liquidity, suggesting the gap is awareness, not judgment. It is a lack of awareness that tools capable of doing both already exist. 

"Corporate treasurers are under increasing pressure to do more with their cash without taking on additional risk,” said Katlin Mongelluzzo, BlackRock Director and Head of Cachematrix Product & Platform. “The findings in this survey reflect a tension we see across the market: the appetite for better yield and faster settlement is there, but the path to getting there runs through infrastructure modernization that takes time. The organizations that invest in that modernization now will have a meaningful operational advantage."

"Treasury teams across Europe and North America are dealing with the same fundamental constraint: the infrastructure they rely on was built for a different era," said Cyrille Oudard, Kyriba EMEA Business Value Advisory Senior Director. "Our work with corporations consistently shows this is not a technology problem - it is a legacy architecture problem. The barriers Jiko's survey identifies match exactly what we see in the field. Integration is where most organisations get stuck, paying the price in idle cash, manual workarounds, and slower decision-making. One of the top pillars for financial resilience is cash conversion rates - and Kyriba gives treasury teams visibility across key working capital areas, accelerating these rates, which can be used to optimize yield on cash flow. The gap between what treasury teams need and what they can actually do is closable - but only if the infrastructure question is tackled head-on."

"The findings from the survey are consistent with what we hear from treasury leaders across the NeuGroup network," said Joseph Bertran, Senior Director, Research at NeuGroup. "As treasury's role expands from steward of cash to strategic partner and value enabler for the business, leaders are looking for solutions that improve capital efficiency without sacrificing liquidity or sound risk management. The idle cash finding is particularly compelling. Treasury leaders are seeking tools that allow them to invest more operating cash without limiting access to liquidity, therefore helping treasury unlock greater value for the enterprise while continuing to manage risk.”

The Corporate Cash Confidence Survey was conducted from April 13, 2026 to June 19, 2026, and reflects responses from 192 treasury professionals. Respondents spanned organizations across verticals and revenue tiers.  

Jiko will bring together a panel of industry leaders from BlackRock, NeuGroup, and Kyriba to discuss the findings and implications for the industry on Thursday, July 23rd at 11:00am PST / 2:00pm EST. Register here.

Access the full Corporate Cash Confidence Survey Report.