- Business banking fintech Mercury is expanding into personal banking.
- The new accounts, dubbed Mercury Personal, will offer advanced banking tools such as free wire transfers, multiple debit cards with account-level controls, and will pay 5% APY on savings accounts at launch.
- Mercury Personal will allow users to easily switch between their business and personal accounts and will cost users $240 per year.
The planet Mercury may be in retrograde, but that didn’t stop business banking fintech Mercury from launching its new retail banking service this week. The new offering, Mercury Personal, creates a personal banking experience for entrepreneurs, investors, and builders who want a self-serve banking option to help optimize their personal finances.
Choice Financial Group is serving as the sponsor bank for Mercury Personal. The new personal accounts will offer individuals advanced digital banking tools, including the ability to create rules around auto-transfers, multiple debit cards, customizable permissions for additional account users, access to $5 million in FDIC insurance, and 5% APY interest on savings accounts at launch.
Launching into the consumer digital banking space may place Mercury in the same category as other popular digital banks like Chime. However, Mercury is seeking to differentiate itself from the majority of digital banks, many of which target underserved consumers. Instead, Mercury has made it clear that it is targeting entrepreneurs, founders, and investors with its advanced banking tools and capabilities.
“As we celebrate the fifth anniversary of Mercury’s launch, introducing Mercury Personal marks not just our expansion into consumer banking, but a step forward in growing our relationships with the founders and tech leaders we serve,” said Mercury Co-founder and CEO Immad Akhund. “By offering personal banking for founders and investors, we’re able to deepen our relationship with them. Mercury Personal is a strategic move toward helping people and businesses operate at their best. This is our next step in building a generational company that innovates, supports, and grows alongside the most ambitious companies and individuals.”
Other factors differentiating Mercury’s new personal bank account offering are fee-free domestic wires and ACH transfers, worldwide ATM reimbursements, and the ability to easily switch between business and personal bank accounts.
The cost is also a differentiating factor. While Chime boasts fee-free banking and a multi-card service like Greenlight charges $60 to $180 per year, Mercury Personal will charge $240 per year at launch. Depending on how a customer uses the account, however, the $240 could be worth the free wire transfers and 5% APY (though the bank makes it clear that the rate can change at any time).
There is currently a waitlist for Mercury’s personal banking accounts. The fintech expects general availability to open up later this year.
Mercury was founded in 2017 and has since been entirely focused on serving small businesses and investors. The fintech is currently under regulatory scrutiny from the FDIC for allowing users in Russia, Pakistan, and Myanmar to open accounts and for facilitating fund transfers between Saudi Arabian businesses.
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