Trump fires at Bank of America, revives discrimination claims

President Donald Trump on Thursday accused the CEOs of the two largest US banks of refusing to serve conservatives, reviving a 2024 campaign that the two companies deny.

Speaking via video to a gathering held at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Trump lashed out Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan and JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon as part of a Q-and-A session.

“I hope you start opening up your bank to conservatives because a lot of conservatives are complaining that the banks won’t let them do business at the bank, and that included a place called Bank of America,” Trump said.

“You and Jamie and everybody else, I hope you’ll open your banks to conservatives because what you’re doing is wrong,” Trump said.

Moynihan, who was among a few executives selected to ask the president questions during the Q-and-A, did not immediately respond to the accusation.

Both banks refuse to refuse conservative service.

“We serve more than 70 million customers, we welcome conservatives and have no political litmus test,” a Bank of America official said in an email.

“We have never and would never close an account for political reasons, period,” a JPMorgan spokeswoman said in a statement. “We follow the law and the guidance of our regulators and have long said there are problems with the current framework Washington needs to deal with.”

In the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, caused in part by poor lending standards at major banks, US regulators increased pressure on lenders to weed out customers in industries deemed to have a higher risk of money laundering or fraud. This meant that lenders, pawnbrokers, firearms dealers and those involved in pornography had their accounts revoked, often with little notice or explanation as to why.

As recently as October, Trump singled out Bank of America, repeating claims that it discriminates against conservatives.

The charges may have roots in allegations made by state attorneys last year. In April, Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach sent a letter to Moynihan accusing the bank of canceling the accounts of “several religious groups with mainstream views over the past three years.”

In a May letter in response to Kobach, Bank of America said accounts are de-banked for reasons including a change in the stated purpose of the account, the expected level or type of activity in the account or failure to verify certain documents that required by law.

One account highlighted by Kobach was deleted because it engaged in collection services, which was inconsistent with the Bank of America branch servicing the account, according to the bank’s response.

“We would like to provide clarity on a very straightforward matter: religious beliefs or political views are never a factor in any decisions related to our client’s accounts,” the bank said in the letter. “Bank of America provides banking services to non-profit organizations affiliated with faith-based communities throughout the United States. We have banking and investment relationships with approximately 120,000 faith-based customers in the United States.”

Influential people in Trump’s inner circle have continued to claim that banks discriminate based on religion or politics.

In November, Marc Andreessen, co-founder of the venture capital firm that bears his name, said podcaster Joe Rogan that dozens of startup founders had been de-banked in recent years. Andreessen has said he advises Trump on technology issues.

Bank of America shares rose more than 1% on Thursday, while JPMorgan shares were also higher.

The banking industry is seen as one of the biggest beneficiaries of the election of Trump, largely because of expectations that he would kill Biden-era legislative efforts to force banks to hold tens of billions of dollars in additional capital against losses , creating annual stress tests less opaque and dropping efforts to limit credit card and overdraft limits.