Everyone loves a startup (aka challenger bank), especially when it’s a company you are already inclined to root for because of its origin story, geographic location, or just plain likeability. However, when it comes to trusting someone with your money, many small business owners prefer to deal with someone they know personally, even if it means not getting the latest online banking features or the best interest rate.
If you want the best digital services and don’t need a local presence, take a look at our digital challenger bank list (here). But if you are more interested in a local connection, check out our “Big Bank” list below (note: A few of the big players are primarily digital, e.g., PayPal, Square, and Shopify). Most have a pretty large branch base if that is something you value.
Challenger of the Month*
Mercury Bank
Banking for what you’re building. Startups of all sizes rely on Mercury.
HQ: SF | Founded: 2017 | Raised $136M (including $120M in 2021) | Valuation: $1.7 billion | Website visits: 2.2 million/month | Employees: 728 | Article citations: 20 | Linkedin: 37,000 followers | Trustpilot: 3.9 (822 reviews) | iOS app: 4.9 (3,800 reviews)
Resources: Looking for digital banks, lenders, payment providers, insurance or digital accounting for small businesses? Check out our latest lists: Small Business (SMB) savings/treasury accounts (7) | SMB online lenders (33) | SMB challenger banks (15) | SMB insurers (15) | SMB charge cards/expense management (16) | Billpay & invoicing (16)| Payment processors (7) | Subscription processors (7) | SMB digital accounting/bookkeeping (21)
Table: Largest Traditional Banks & Card Issuers Serving U.S. Small Businesses
ranked by monthly website visits
| Rank | Company | Website Traffic (M) | Assets ($B) |
| 1 | Chase | 183 | $3,390 |
| 2 | CapitalOne | 144 | $469 |
| 3 | Wells Fargo | 116 | $1,700 |
| 4 | Bank of America | 104 | $2,470 |
| 5 | Citibank | 75 | $1,660 |
| 6 | US Bank | 31 | $657 |
| 7 | Navy FCU | 27 | $168 |
| 8 | PNC Bank | 25 | $553 |
| 9 | BMO | 25 | $261 |
| 10 | Truist | 21 | $535 |
| 11 | TD Bank | 13 | $366 |
| 12 | Regions Bank | 11 | $153 |
| 13 | Fifth Third Bank | 10 | $212 |
| 14 | Huntington Bank | 9.1 | $186 |
| 15 | Citizens Bank | 9.0 | $225 |
| 16 | M&T Bank | 8.3 | $209 |
| 17 | Key Bank | 7.8 | $186 |
| 18 | BECU | 4.6 | $29 |
| 19 | First Citizens | 4.0 | $214 |
| 20 | Santander Bank | 3.3 | $99 |
| 21 | Flagstar Bank | 2.8 | $111 |
| 22 | First Horizon | 2.6 | $82 |
| 23 | Mercury Bank | 2.4 | |
| 24 | America First CU | 2.3 | $18 |
| 24 | Comerica | 2.0 | $86 |
| 25 | Umpqua Bank | 1.6 | $52 |
| 26 | Zions Bank | 1.3 | $87 |
| 27 | Synovus | 1.3 | $59 |
| 28 | Frost Bank | 1.3 | $49 |
| 29 | HSBC (USA) | 1.1 | $161 |
| 30 | First Tech FCU | 1.1 | $17 |
| Cards/Payments | |||
| 1 | PayPal | 341 | |
| 2 | Shopify | 157 | |
| 3 | American Express | 84 | $175 |
| 4 | Square | 50 |
Source: FintechLabs, 29 April 2024; SimilarWeb, SEMRush, Federal Reserve
Website traffic is the consensus number of monthly visits according to Similarweb and SEMRush.
Assets in US$ billions as of 30 Sep 2023 per US Federal Reserve
*FintechLabs is sponsor supported; companies buying ads or paying referral fees may receive prominent mention
