Treasury Bills (also referred to as T-Bills) are short term investment securities typically with a maturity period of one year or less issued by the government. In Nigeria, they are issued by the CBN on behalf of the government with fixed tenures/durations e.g. 91 days, 180 days or 364 days as well as an agreed rate for the duration. T-Bills are widely regarded as a low-risk and secure investment option.

In some cases, for T-bills, you might have interest amount paid upfront, however, on the Embed API, interests are paid upon maturity with the amount invested

Some Common Terms

There are a few terms to be familiar with when investing in t-bills. These include:

• Price: this is the price at which the t-bill is to be bought or sold. Price changes dynamically for a T-bill and is not static
• Interest rate: this is also sometimes called yield. This is the rate at which returns on your investment in a t-bill is computed daily. This is also not static and changes dynamically
• Tenure: this is the duration in days length for a t-bill investment. It can be anything from 60 days to 90 or 180. It is usually issued for a maximum of 364 days.
• Units: when you purchase a t-bill, units will be issued to you. The units issued will be based on the price of the t-bill and the amount being invested. In other words, if a t-bill is going for N90 per unit and you invest N10,000, you will be issued about 111 units.
• Current Value: This is the current value of your investment as at today. It is determined by multiplying your current units by the price of the t-bill for that day. For example, if you have 90 units and the price for a t-bill today is N100 today, your current value will be N9,000
• Investment Returns: This shows how much you’ve earned in returns from your investment in a t-bill

Below is a guide on Integrating & Investing in T-Bills through Embed.
Investing in T-bills on the Embed API is a very straightforward process. A sample summary flow will be

Sample T-Bills Flow

“user views available t-bills → user selects a preferred option → user specifies amount and proceeds to make payment → payment is confirmed and investment is created → user is credited with value and units”

To learn how to manage the assets resource or view sample t-bills object, please visit the API Reference

Note: Treasury bills on the Embed API are not locked and can be bought and sold at any time. Interest rate/yield and price changes periodically. They are not fixed. This means that a user can add more money to a t-bill investment but it will be processed at a different interest rate and price.