JPMorgan Chase moves to end debanking
JPMorgan Chase has taken a step toward abandoning its practice of debanking customers who express certain religious views or political opinions.
On March 5th, the nation’s largest bank agreed to amend its Code of Conduct to prohibit discrimination against “religious views.” Until now, the code protected several classes such as race, sex, gender status, transgender status, intersex status, gender expression, and even religious affiliation, but not religious views. This effectively meant that a customer or employee who objected to gender ideology on religious grounds could be debanked or terminated.
The banking giant also added to an existing clause prohibiting discrimination, abuse, harassment, or inappropriate behavior based on certain factors, which now include “religious views,” “political opinions,” and “speech or affiliations.”
“This is a major victory for free speech and religious freedom in the marketplace,” said Jeremy Tedesco, senior counsel and senior vice president for corporate engagement at the legal nonprofit organization Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF). “As the nation’s largest bank, Chase sets the platinum standard for financial institutions throughout the country and the world. No American should ever fear losing access to their bank account because of their religious or political views, and we are glad to see Chase taking tangible steps to implement these critical protections. We expect Chase’s new policy to set the standard for the rest of the financial industry.”
The move comes after President Donald Trump publicly admonished JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon and Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan in January for discriminating against conservative Americans.
“You’ve done a fantastic job — but 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 at the World Economic Forum. “They don’t take conservative business. And I don’t know if the regulators mandated that because of Biden or what, but you and Jamie and everybody, I hope you’re going to open your banks to conservatives, because what you’re doing is wrong.”
Chase debanks conservatives
In May 2022, Chase Bank abruptly closed the account belonging to former U.S. Ambassador Sam Brownback’s National Committee for Religious Freedom (NCRF), a nonprofit aimed at safeguarding freedom for all religions. No transactions had raised any red flags. NCRF made some calls and discovered the decision had come from the “corporate office” and that a note in their file forbade staff from providing any clarity as to why their account was closed. Chase eventually told NCRF that it would restore the organization’s account, but only if it divulged its donors, the political candidates it planned to support, and other unnecessary information.
In 2021, a Chase-owned credit card processor notified the pro-life organization Family Council that “we can no longer support your business” because it was considered “High Risk.” But the nonprofit met none of the qualifications for the High Risk category.
WePay, a payment gateway owned by Chase, refused service to a conservative group because it felt its views supported “hate, violence, racial intolerance, [and] terrorism”.
Also in 2021, Chase abruptly closed former Trump National Security Advisor Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn’s bank account for “reputational reasons,” according to The Heritage Foundation.
JPMorgan Chase is one of six “too-large-to-fail” banks that have been slowly becoming “financial legislatures.”
Trump family gets debanked
In her recent memoir, First Lady Melania Trump slammed a bank that shut down her and her son Barron’s bank accounts after the Trumps were ousted from the White House in 2020.
“I was shocked and dismayed to learn that my long-time bank decided to terminate my account and deny my son the opportunity to open a new one,” she wrote in “Melania.” “This decision appeared to be rooted in political discrimination, raising serious concerns about civil rights violations.”
While Melania did not name the bank, she said its actions were part of a “venom of cancel culture” the Trump family was forced to endure.
