(Yahoo! Finance) - President Donald Trump confronted Bank of America (BAC) CEO Brian Moynihan Thursday over a claim gaining traction in conservative circles: that customers are being ‘de-banked’ for their personal beliefs.
“I hope you start opening your bank to conservatives, because many conservatives complain that the banks are not allowing them to do business within the bank, and that included a place called Bank of America,” Trump told Moynihan during a virtual question and answer session at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
The president also appeared to include JPMorgan Chase (JPM) CEO Jamie Dimon in his confrontation. JPMorgan and Bank of America are the nation’s two largest banks.
“I don't know if the regulators mandated that because of Biden or what, but you and Jamie and everybody else, I hope you open your banks to conservatives because what you're doing is wrong,” Trump added.
The exchange, which Moynihan sidestepped without addressing the issue, resurfaced a concern Trump raised during his 2024 campaign.
The issue remains relevant as the GOP takes over all of Washington, D.C. The lawmakers assuming leadership roles at key financial committees in the Senate and House have hinted that they want to examine de-banking further in the months to come. Acting FDIC chairman Travis Hill also identified the issue as a priority.
The crypto world has also latched on to de-banking as a key issue it wants to see addressed by Washington.
Weeks after Trump’s election win in early November, Silicon Valley billionaire and venture capitalist Marc Andreessen claimed on a podcast that the US government had pressured banks to close certain accounts connected to crypto and other tech industries. Many in the crypto world supported Trump and other GOP candidates, hoping they would push for more favorable regulation of their industry.
Banks, however, have pushed back repeatedly on the idea that they are denying customers of a particular political stripe.
When asked about Andreessen's claims during a Chase podcast interview published earlier this week, JPMorgan's Dimon said, "We have not de-banked anyone because of political or religious relationships, period."
What Dimon instead argued is that US rules such as the Bank Secrecy Act discourage banks from dealing with customers that are considered high-risk — and that there needs to be clearer regulation on that front.
"Where Mark is right is all these examples where they put a lot of pressure on us, and they tell us what it's high risk, and if we don't de-bank someone and something goes wrong, it could be hundreds of million dollars of fines. So a lot of banks are kind of guessing," Dimon added.
"We don't bank marijuana companies because there's no federal law around it, we simply can't follow the law. If there's a federal law, we probably would, and we do, bank some crypto companies, and very carefully. We are responsible in the law to fight sex trafficking, money laundering, tax avoidance," Dimon said.
Last April, Republican Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach and 14 other Republican AGs sent a letter to BofA's Moynihan that claimed the bank appeared to be "conditioning access to its services on customers having the bank’s preferred religious or political views."
Bank of America denied the claims at the time. In a new comment Thursday after Trump’s comments to Moynihan, a spokesman said "we serve more than 70 million clients, we welcome conservatives and have no political litmus test."
"We responded to the AGs last May and assured them that religious and political beliefs are never a factor in any decisions related to clients’ accounts."
A JPMorgan spokesman said Thursday that "we have never and would never close an account for political reasons, full stop."
"We follow the law and guidance from our regulators and have long said there are problems with the current framework that Washington must address. We welcome the opportunity to work with the new administration and Congress on ways to remove regulatory ambiguity while maintaining our country’s ability to address financial crime."
By David Hollerith - Senior Reporter
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