US-Based Mercury Bank Blocks Services for Pakistanis Due to Fraud

US-based Mercury Bank has included Pakistan alongside Palestine, Nigeria, Mali, Somalia, Russia, Iran, and many others in the list of countries restricted from opening/using accounts on its platform. The bank’s co-founder wrote on X that the fintech’s services were halted for Pakistani startups as over 10 percent of signups from the area resulted in fraud. “It is especially sad since I was born in Pakistan. We stopped onboarding Pakistan-based beneficial owners when >10 percent of signups from PK resulted in fraud. We didn’t have this issue with any other country we support,” he said on X. “Not sure what the solution is but PK needs to clean up its act,” he added. As a result of this, businesses, startups, and individuals in Pakistan cannot open new accounts or conduct transactions using Mercury. According to Mercury’s official website, the full list of prohibited countries are: This move follows federal scrutiny earlier this year involving Mercury’s partner, Choice Bank, for allowing foreign companies to open accounts under risky circumstances. Now, Mercury has ramped up its risk and compliance teams and revised its eligibility requirements. Customers in certain countries, including Pakistan, Palestine, and others as mentioned above, were informed that their accounts would be closed.