activeFeaturedBusiness banking
- HQ
- Singapore
- Fee
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Mercury
The US start-up current account, built with partner banks.
Legal entity: Mercury is a financial technology company, not an FDIC-insured bank. Banking services provided through Choice Financial Group and Column N.A., Members FDIC (Mercury homepage footer).
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7.6Solid
AlternativesFive questions
At a glance
Is it a bank?
No. Mercury is not a bank. Your money sits with Choice Financial Group / Column N.A. (program banks).
If it fails?
Pass-through FDIC at Choice Financial Group and Column N.A., Members FDIC. Mercury is not a bank (Mercury footer).
Salary?
US business checking at partner banks can run payroll. Mercury is not the FDIC member.
Open from abroad?
US business banking fintech. Incorporation and US tax identity typically required. Not a personal IBAN.
Monthly fee
Free core operations
Account number
United States — routing / account number (partner banks)
NeoBankDB Verdict
Licence first · score second
7.6
/10 · Solid
If you are a Delaware C-corp, Mercury is the opening account. If you invoice in AUD and EUR, add Airwallex or Wise Business.
What it is
Mercury is a financial technology company, not a bank. Customer funds are held at partner banks and eligible deposits may be FDIC insured through those banks. The product is checking, cards, and treasury for start-ups.
Best for: US-incorporated start-ups that need a beautiful operating account.
Last checked 2026-08-01. Not advice.
What it does well
- +Best-in-class US start-up UX
- +Free core
- +Virtual cards for vendors
- +Treasury options
What to watch
- −Not itself a bank
- −International founders hit KYC walls
- −Synapse-era anxiety applies to every BaaS stack — know the partners
- −FX is not Airwallex
Legal entity, not the app icon
Who is behind it
- Legal name
- Mercury is a financial technology company, not an FDIC-insured bank. Banking services provided through Choice Financial Group and Column N.A., Members FDIC (Mercury homepage footer).
- Parent
- Mercury Technologies, Inc.
- Founders
- Immad Akhund, Max Tagher
- Offices
- San Francisco
- If something goes wrong
- CFPB for the fintech; FDIC for Choice Financial Group and Column N.A.
Who holds the money
The account
- Platforms
- Web · iOS
- Account types
- Business checking
- Partner bank
- Choice Financial Group · Column N.A.
- Minimum balance
- $0
- Lowest monthly fee
- $0
- Who can open
- US C-corp, LLC, and similar
- Availability
- US-incorporated companies
- IBAN country
- United States — routing / account number (partner banks)
- Support
- In-app and email — startup-grade, not branch-grade
- Hours
- In-app / email, US business hours plus async
- Remote open
- US business banking fintech. Incorporation and US tax identity typically required. Not a personal IBAN.
- Onboarding
- Business KYC: incorporation, ownership, US tax IDs as the partner banks require.
- KYC documents
- Company documents, owners’ IDs, EIN/SSN as requested.
- Minimum age
- Business entity KYC, not a teen product.
- Languages
- English
- Salary / payroll
- US business checking at partner banks can run payroll. Mercury is not the FDIC member.
- Local rails
- US ACH / wire / check. Not an EEA IBAN bank.
- ATM network
- Debit; this is a business checking file, not a travel ATM product
- Overdraft
- None as a consumer overdraft — treasury, not SpotMe
How money actually moves
- Who holds the cash
- Current account at a partner bank
- How money moves
- ACH / USD
- Built for
- Business
- Settlement
- App-ledger instant; bank rails per corridor
- Freeze risk
- Fintech reviews can pause inbound while they check a transfer
- Card
- Mercury lists a physical card and a virtual card on visa, plus Apple Pay and Google Pay. Confirm the live product in the app — a card is not a current account.
Licence first
Safety
Pass-through FDIC at Choice Financial Group and Column N.A., Members FDIC. Mercury is not a bank (Mercury footer).
Who holds the money: Choice Financial Group / Column N.A. (program banks)
- FDIC (partners)Fintech with partner banks · United States
Fees
- Monthly
- Free core operations
- FX markup
- International wires priced; not a FX specialist
- ATM
- Debit ATM fees per network
- Interest
- Treasury / money-market via partners
Features
- –IBAN
- ✓Fee-free core
- –Multi-currency
- ✓Apple Pay
- ✓Google Pay
- ✓Virtual card
- ✓Physical card
- –Metal card
- –Crypto
- –Stocks
- ✓Business
- –Kids
- –Halal
- USD checking for start-ups
- Virtual and physical cards
- ACH, wires, checks
- Treasury
- API, accounting sync
Editorial, not a live demo
Screenshots and video
Official YouTube · MercuryMedia is editorial context, not a live demo of the app. Screenshots go stale — read the licence first.
Before you tap Sign up
How to open
Step 1
Mercury is not a bank
Homepage footer: fintech, not an FDIC-insured bank. Choice Financial Group and Column N.A. are the members.
Step 2
Business KYC
This is a start-up operations account, not a personal current account.
Step 3
Read the sweep papers
Deposit placement / custodial agreements sit under mercury.com/legal/ for Choice and Column.
Official help: support.mercury.com
Operator documents
Their own papers
These are the operator’s documents. They outrank this review if they disagree.
Score
- Safety25%
- 7.6
- Fees20%
- 8.8
- Features15%
- 8.4
- App15%
- 9.0
- Global15%
- 4.2
- Support10%
- 7.0
Change log
Full logSafety
Partner-bank map: Column / Choice (confirm live)
Mercury is not a bank. After Synapse, the named partners are the whole safety section.
Safety
Partner-bank map: Column / Choice (confirm live)
Mercury is not a bank. After Synapse, the named partners are the whole safety section.
Available in
Straight answers
FAQ
01Is Mercury a bank?
No. Mercury is filed as Fintech with partner banks. The money sits with Choice Financial Group / Column N.A. (program banks).
02What happens to money in Mercury if it fails?
FDIC sweep via Choice Financial Group, Column N.A. and partners — confirm current list
03What does Mercury charge each month?
The monthly fee on this file is Free core operations. Fees change — open the operator's pricing page if it is linked.
Ratings and reviews
5.0 / 5 from 1 published review on NeoBankDB.
Seed-stage CFO
United States· 2026-08-27Verified userBest start-up checking UX in the US. Know Choice / Column, not just the wordmark.
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From NeoBankDB
Note20 Jan 2026 · 8 min
Mercury, Airwallex, Qonto, Aspire: pick from the incorporation, not the homepage
US C-corp, APAC trade, French SAS, SEA SME — four products, four home markets, one bad habit of calling them all banks.
Read the noteNote9 Apr 2026 · 10 min
After Synapse: how to read a US neobank that is not a bank
FDIC pass-through is a record-keeping claim. If the middleware holds the ledger, you have a new kind of risk.
Read the note