If you are affected by this, help is coming latest next month: “Mercury, a US-based Neobank that operates accounts for startups globally, has announced its decision to terminate accounts of Nigerian startups and founders on August 22, 2024, following compliance changes.
“This decision is coming after checks on the company’s website listed Nigeria as one of the prohibited countries where it currently can’t open accounts for founders living in the region. The prohibition means businesses and individuals living in Nigeria can no longer open new accounts or conduct transactions through the bank.”
This move has sent shockwaves through the local tech ecosystem, leaving many scrambling for alternatives, which is expected to impact a substantial number of Nigerian startups that have relied on the bank’s services for their financial operations.
It is worth noting that Mercury has been very important to Nigerian tech startups that raise dollar funding from foreign and local investors. The recent decision to restrict the African country comes amid heightened regulatory scrutiny of the fintech sector and Nigeria’s placement on the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) greylist.
In short, today, we spent time checking our system ahead of launch. Feel free to write the email here so that Team will update you once we go live. Our solution is agnostic of location provided the country is not in the United States sanction list. Nigeria is not there, and has never been there, and that means even if your address is in Nigeria, we will serve you.
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US Neobank Mercury to Terminate Accounts of Nigerian Startup Founders, Set August 2024 as Deadline
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