FinTech Mercury Financial Hires Barclays Exec Jason Whiting as CFO

FinTech company Mercury Financial is reportedly adding Barclays veteran Jason Whiting as chief financial officer (CFO).

Whiting has more than two decades’ experience at both Barclays and Lehman Brothers, most recently serving as Barclays’ head of strategy for the Americas, Bloomberg reported Monday (Nov. 14).

With current CFO Steve Carp set to assume a senior strategic planning role at Mercury Financial, Whiting is to join the company in December, according to the report.

“Bringing Jason on board will set us up for the next stage of our corporate development,” Mercury Financial CEO James Peterson said, per the report.

Mercury Financial did not immediately respond to PYMNTS’ request for comment.

The company aims to expand financial inclusion by helping Americans build better credit, according to an Aug. 30 press release.

Founded in 2013, Mercury Financial currently serves 1 million cardmembers and manages $4.7 billion in credit access, the release stated.

The firm announced in August that it was launching a multi-year partnership with Visa that offers Mercury Financial customers cashback rewards on purchases, zero fraud liability, fraud protection and worldwide acceptance, per the release.

“We are committed to helping our customers achieve better credit to enable a better life,” Peterson said at the time in the release. “This starts with offering a credit solution that meets the consumer’s financial needs and improves their financial experience.”

PYMNTS research has found that credit scores are strongly correlated with income, yet about one-third of those earning more than $250,000 a year report average or below-average credit scores.

In fact, 18% of consumers earning more than $250,000 report having an average credit score, while 13% report having a below-average credit score, according to “New Reality Check: The Paycheck-To-Paycheck Report,” a PYMNTS and LendingClub collaboration.