The American digital bank Mercury, a platform used by startups, recently added Croatia to the list of banned countries, which created problems for Croatian startups and technology companies, which used their services to do business in the US market. The Company issued a communication that they can’t open accounts for founders living in Croatia just like the one from North Korea, Afghanistan, Cuba or Iran. It is a rather unusual decision by an American fintech company, if we take into account that Croatia is a member of the European Union, as well as the Eurozone, as the Croatian Forbes writes about. Please read the article at: Američka banka stavila Hrvatsku na crnu listu, sa Sjevernom Korejom. Startupima gase račune – Forbes Hrvatska (n1info.hr)
Today all the media in Croatia reported the news and the Start-up owner gave statements for the media that they are embarrassed that they are from Croatia. However we contacted our partner Ivana Manovelo, Lawyer specialized in startups and corporative law and she confirmed that it was expected. Croatia has been on the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list since June 2023. “The grey list” means that the country jurisdiction is under Increased Monitoring.
The question is how will this impact Croatian startups in a long run.
