Catherine Aquilina is the Policy and Government Affairs Lead at Mercury, where she helps lead government affairs and regulatory strategy. Before joining Mercury, she served as a Policy Advisor at the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Financial Stability Oversight Council and as a Financial Institution Policy Analyst at the Federal Reserve Board. She holds a Master of Public Policy from Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy and brings deep expertise at the intersection of financial regulation and innovation.
You’ve spent your career at the intersection of finance and public policy, including time at the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve. What drew you to Mercury, and how does your experience in both government and fintech shape your approach to policy and advocacy today?
Catherine Aquilina: My career has always centered on strengthening the financial system – through public service at the Federal Reserve and Treasury Department, and now through private sector innovations at Mercury. Mercury is really trying to do something different in a space where there hasn’t been much innovation before and that really drew me in. The entire team at Mercury is devoted to building products and tools that make our customers’ lives better and that push the boundaries of what business banking traditionally has been.
There are definitely parallels between Mercury and my career in civil service. At both, I’ve worked with teams deeply motivated by mission—people who believe that better financial systems can expand opportunity. At the Fed and Treasury, that meant developing policies to keep the banking and financial sectors stable and resilient. At Mercury, it means building products and advocating for policies that make entrepreneurship more accessible and sustainable.
That perspective has shaped my approach to my role today. Whether in government or at Mercury, I’ve found that we’re often working toward the same goals—just using different language. My role as Policy and Government Affairs Lead at Mercury is about helping bridge that gap: ensuring policymakers understand how responsible innovation can strengthen the financial system, and helping innovators understand how thoughtful policy can broaden access to entrepreneurship.
Traditional financial institutions haven’t always met the evolving needs of entrepreneurs. What makes business banking for startups at Mercury fundamentally different from conventional business banking?
CA: Traditional business banking wasn’t built for startups. It has importantly provided the basic needs for an economy to grow through money creation and movement, but hasn’t innovated much beyond that, especially in comparison to startups. Startup founders need financial tools that can move as quickly as their businesses do. Opening an account still often requires branch visits, manual processes, and systems that don’t talk to each other. Entrepreneurs end up piecing together multiple disconnected products just to manage the basics—banking, payments, cards, payroll, and financial reporting—which takes time away from building their companies.
Mercury is radically different banking*. Mercury merges banking with software built for precision and speed to help entrepreneurs accomplish everything they want with their money. We partner with FDIC-insured banks to deliver core banking services and up to $5M in FDIC insurance—20x the standard—through our partner banks and their sweep networks. Founders can apply online in 10 minutes, access same-day ACH, USD wires, checks, cards, and accounts with no fees or minimum balances, and manage their company’s entire financial workflow from a single dashboard.
It’s one product for everything entrepreneurs want to do more with their money, and more than 200,000 businesses use Mercury today.
*Mercury is a fintech company, not an FDIC-insured bank. Banking services provided through Choice Financial Group and Column N.A., Members FDIC. FDIC deposit insurance covers the failure of an insured bank. Deposits in checking and savings accounts are FDIC-insured through Choice Financial Group and Column N.A. and their Sweep Program Network Banks. Certain conditions must be satisfied for pass-through FDIC insurance to apply. Learn more here.
In your role as Policy and Government Affairs Lead, what are the most pressing policy issues or barriers facing entrepreneurs, and how can fintechs help bridge those gaps?
CA: Access to capital remains one of the most persistent barriers for entrepreneurs. Banks play a vital role, but branch-based models often limit reach beyond major metro areas. That means founders outside traditional financial centers frequently struggle to secure credit or raise capital locally. Fintechs aren’t limited by physical presence, and can bring products and services, and facilitate the flow of capital to entrepreneurs across the nation, meeting them where they are instead of the other way around.
At Mercury, we’re constantly investing in products that will help serve founders. This year, we expanded access to credit through the IO business credit card*, now available to most customers from day one and underwritten against real-time cash balances. We also broadened our lending program, with working capital loans up to $3 million** and extending eligibility across more states—further expanding founders’ capital options.
*The IO Card is issued by Patriot Bank, Member FDIC, pursuant to a license from Mastercard®. Limitations apply for access to the IO card on day one. Learn more about qualifying for IO here.
**Loan amounts are subject to eligibility and credit criteria. Mercury’s Venture Debt and Working Capital loans are originated by Mercury Lending, LLC (NMLS: 2606284) and serviced by Mercury Servicing, LLC (NMLS: 2606285). Mercury Lending and Mercury Servicing are wholly-owned, separately managed subsidiaries of Mercury Technologies, Inc. At this time, we are unable to offer venture debt or working capital loans to businesses operating in California.
As we mark National Entrepreneurs Day on November 18, it’s a fitting time to reflect on how founders are navigating today’s economic realities. Mercury’s recent report, The New Economics of Starting Up, highlights how startups are adapting to today’s economic realities. What are some of the most striking trends you’ve seen in how startups are starting and scaling?
CA: This year has been defined by economic uncertainty, and we wanted to know how startups were feeling overall and where and how they’re raising and spending capital. We surveyed over 1,500 founders and executives at startups across the U.S. Unsurprisingly, founders told us general economic uncertainty was a top concern for nearly 90% of them. But despite this, what emerged was a portrait of resilience — in May, founders were adopting new technologies, hiring in specific fields, and seeking diversified funding approaches.
One finding that our team found really interesting was that 79% of surveyed startups with significant AI adoption were hiring more due to AI tools, not less. This finding surprised us, given the prevailing narrative of AI news coverage reporting that AI adoption may reduce headcount.
As the year has unfolded and the labor market shows signs of softening, it’s been encouraging to see follow-up reporting—like Axios’ recent coverage—suggesting that laid-off AI talent is being rehired.
Mercury is a proud member of the Center for American Entrepreneurship, a research, policy, and advocacy organization dedicated to fostering an environment where new businesses can start, grow, and thrive. Why is policy advocacy so critical for small businesses right now?
CA: Policy advocacy is critical right now because small businesses are carrying an outsized share of economic growth without an equal share of influence. Organizations like the Center for American Entrepreneurship (CAE) play an essential role in closing that gap. We’re proud to partner with CAE, whose research and advocacy help ensure policymakers understand the realities facing entrepreneurs today.
Small businesses make up more than 90% of all U.S. companies and contribute roughly 40% of GDP. Yet most don’t have the resources to send representatives to Washington to explain how tax and trade policy or enhanced regulatory requirements affect their ability to hire, grow, or access capital. Even well-intentioned policy changes can have disproportionate effects on small companies – altering margins, shifting hiring plans, or constraining liquidity overnight.
That’s where Mercury and CAE’s collaboration matters. Our customer base is made up of newly formed and scaling businesses. When we engage on Capitol Hill, we’re not just representing Mercury, the fintech, we’re representing the more than 200,000 founders building companies with us. Through partnerships like this, we can elevate their experiences and ensure that policies shaping the financial system work for the next generation of great American companies.