MERCURY

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How Mercury works

The next evolution
of banking

Uncompromising stability, smoother payments, elevated banking security, and fine‑tuned user controls — your startup deserves it all. This is banking as it should be.

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layer 1

Regulated partner banks
provide a secure foundation

Mercury isn’t technically a bank —but you’d never know it.

Working with regulated partner banks allows us to unlock secure access to the U.S. banking system and focus on building innovative products for over 200K startups.

But like you, we’re thoughtful about who we do business with.

When selecting a partner bank, here’s what we look for:

  • Institutions that are U.S.‑based and federally regulated
  • Strong financial health — think robust capital ratios, stable assets, and a track record for profitability
  • Diverse deposit sources and a wide range of customer industries
  • A shared belief in our ambitious product goals and the determination to help us reach them

We primarily work with three partner banks:

  • Choice Financial Group, Column N.A., and Evolve Bank & Trust provide banking services that include storing your checking and savings deposits via a sweep network of reputable, FDIC‑insured banks.
  • Patriot Bank backs our credit card.*

In the case of Mercury Treasury, we work with Apex Clearing Corp, a FINRA‑regulated brokerage firm subject to similarly rigorous requirements as our partner banks. Mercury Treasury accounts, which allow customers to earn yield** through Morgan Stanley and Vanguard mutual funds, are insured by the SIPC rather than the FDIC.

It all starts with building a bank account

From start to finish, your Mercury experience is crafted around a bank account, the ultimate source of truth for your company’s finances.

And to give you the best possible banking experience, we’ve preserved the finest elements of traditional banking — and cut out the worst.

You get stability and security through strategically chosen partner banks that support a range of industries and are less sensitive to the volatility of the startup ecosystem.

You’re spared from unwieldy interfaces and hidden fees because we’ve designed a banking experience that respects your startup’s time and resources.

From start to finish, your Mercury experience is crafted around a bank account, the ultimate source of truth for your company’s finances.

How your FDIC protection is 20x the per bank limit

A sweep network is a program that involves strategically spreading deposits across multiple banks, reducing the impact of any single point of failure. Customers gain access to expanded FDIC insurance coverage without having to interact with more than one bank.

Our partner banks, Choice, Column, and Evolve, each participate in their own sweep networks that include several trusted, FDIC-insured banks — all of which can be found in the Choice Documents, Column Documents, and Evolve Documents on our Legal page.

Thanks to this program, your Mercury checking and savings deposits are eligible for up to $5M1 in FDIC insurance coverage — 20x the standard per bank limit.

To diversify your deposits, you can use Mercury Treasury to allocate any of your excess funds — for example, beyond the FDIC‑insured $5M — into mutual funds that are invested in short-term securities.

Some of the regulated financial institutions we work with

  • Patriot Bank
  • Column N.A.
  • Morgan Stanley
  • Vanguard
  • Choice Financial Group
  • Evolve Bank & Trust
     
     

layer 2

Modern payments
infrastructure reduces friction

Banking is complex.

But your experience with it
doesn’t have to be.

One of the primary functions of banking is to send money.

Every time you wire a payment or deposit a check, that money moves between financial institutions along a network of payment rails.

Mercury has engineered smoother ways for you to send money along these payment rails — like in the case of international wires and ACH payments — by offering more transparency than traditional banks. As a bonus, we’ve even absorbed many of the hidden fees levied in the process.

To keep your transactions compliant and secure, we’ve also assembled a world-class compliance and risk team that understands banking — and startups.

 

A more transparent way to wire money abroad

Whenever you send a wire abroad, that money may pass through intermediary banks before reaching your recipient’s bank — which may lead to incurred fees.

As a sender, you often don’t have visibility into the process or the fees, which are typically deducted from your recipient’s final sum.

At Mercury, we’re transparent about our wiring fees.

  • Domestic wires are always free to send.
  • International wires in USD are free to send, and you have the option to absorb your recipient’s fees for a flat $15 so that the full amount you send is always delivered to your recipient.
  • Fees incurred by non‑USD international wires are covered by our flat 1% foreign exchange rate.
Mercury is a fintech company, not an FDIC-insured bank. Banking services provided by Choice Financial Group, Column N.A., and Evolve Bank & Trust®; Members FDIC. Deposit insurance covers the failure of an insured bank.

Why your ACH payments are processed in-house

While most fintechs outsource ACH file processing to their partner banks, we do as much of the work in‑house as possible to reduce the chance of fraud.

Not only do we build each file to the exact specifications of our partner banks, but we also use our own compliance system as a first line of defense to properly validate your transaction.

Only then do we hand off the file to our partner banks, who use their own due diligence instruments to perform a final check on our work before making sure that money is delivered safely to its destination.

Disclaimers and footnotes

Mercury is a fintech company, not an FDIC-insured bank. Banking services provided by Choice Financial Group, Column N.A., and Evolve Bank & Trust, Members FDIC. Deposit insurance covers the failure of an insured bank.

  1. You must have an account with Mercury and meet deposit minimums to become eligible for IO.

  2. The IO Card is issued by Patriot Bank, Member FDIC, pursuant to a license from Mastercard. To receive cash back, your Mercury accounts must be open and in good standing, meaning they cannot be suspended, restricted, past due, or otherwise in default. Learn more about cashback.

  3. Mercury is a fintech company, not an FDIC-insured bank. Deposits in checking and savings accounts are held by our banking services partners, Choice Financial Group, Column N.A., and Evolve Bank & Trust; Members FDIC. Deposit insurance covers the failure of an insured bank. Checking and savings account deposits may be held by sweep network banks. Certain conditions must be satisfied for pass-through insurance to apply. Learn more here.

  4. Mercury Treasury, by Mercury Advisory, LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser, seeks to earn net returns up to 4.65% annually on your idle cash. Net yield numbers as of 11/25/2024, and assumes total Mercury deposits of $20M+.

Treasury accounts are advised by Mercury Advisory LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser (“Mercury Advisory”), and are custodied by Apex Clearing Corporation, a registered broker dealer and member FINRA / SIPC. Treasury accounts are not FDIC insured. For additional information about advisory services provided by Mercury Advisory, please refer to its ADV Wrap Fee B#rochure.

The performance discussed herein is historic and reflects an investment for a limited period of time. It should not be assumed that future investors would experience returns, if any, comparable to those illustrated herein. Past performance is not indicative of future returns. Investment results will fluctuate. Returns are not guaranteed. All investments are subject to the risk of loss, including the loss of principal. No representation is being made that an investment account has, will, or is likely to achieve profits or losses equal to the profits or losses shown. Actual returns will vary greatly and depend on personal and market conditions. Before investing, consider your financial goals and the costs of using the program.



Furthermore, the information set forth has been obtained from sources that the Firm believes to be reliable; however, these sources cannot be guaranteed as to their accuracy or completeness. The information contained herein is not, and should not be construed as, an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities. The information has been prepared solely for the purpose of determining your level of interest in Mercury Treasury and to provide general background information on such algorithmic investment program.



This information contains certain “forward-looking statements,” which may be identified by the use of such words as “believe,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “should,” “planned,” “estimated,” “potential” and other similar terms.



Examples of forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, estimates with respect to financial condition, results of operations, and success or lack of success of the depicted investment strategy. All are subject to various factors, including, but not limited to general and local economic conditions, changing levels of competition within certain industries and markets, changes in interest rates, changes in legislation or regulation, and other economic, competitive, governmental, regulatory and technological factors affecting operations that could cause actual results to differ materially from projected results.



Targeted returns (e.g., forward-looking statements of performance up to a stated return) reflects the returns that the Firm is seeking to achieve over a particular period of time. Projected returns reflect the Firm’s performance estimate – i.e., the returns that the Firm believes can be achieved using the advertised investment services. Target returns are presented to inform clients or potential clients about the Firm’s risk tolerances when managing the Mercury Treasury strategy and to provide information useful to a client or potential client when assessing how the Firm’s strategy fits within the investor’s overall portfolio. Target returns are not guarantees or promises of future return.



Mercury Treasury is not insured by the FDIC. Mercury Treasury are not deposits or other obligations of Choice Financial Group, Column N.A., or Evolve Bank & Trust, and are not guaranteed by Choice Financial Group, Column N.A., or Evolve Bank & Trust. Mercury Treasury products are subject to investment risks, including possible loss of the principal invested.