Trump tells Bank of America to stop blocking conservatives

President Donald Trump levied a surprise broadside against Bank of America's Brian Moynihan, chiding the CEO and catching him off-guard, accusing his lender of limiting business with conservative clients.

"I hope you start opening your bank to conservatives," Trump told Bank of America's chief executive officer. "Because what you are doing is wrong."

The exchange occurred during a virtual question and answer session on the stage of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, drawing gasps from the audience. Moynihan, laughing uncomfortably, quickly changed the subject and thanked the president for his assistance in bringing the next FIFA World Cup to the US, which his bank is sponsoring.

"We serve more than 70 million clients and we welcome conservatives. We are required to follow extensive government rules and regulations that sometimes result in decisions to exit client relationships," a representative for Bank of America said in an emailed statement. "We never close accounts for political reasons and don't have a political litmus test."

Trump also called out Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase, for the same alleged treatment of conservative customers.

"We have never and would never close an account for political reasons, full stop," a representative for JPMorgan said in a statement. "We follow the law and guidance from our regulators and have long said there are problems with the current framework Washington must address."

In his own jab, Trump referenced regulators under the previous Biden administration as potentially responsible for the alleged discrimination of bank customers.

JPMorgan said it welcomes the opportunity to work with Trump's administration on ways "to remove regulatory ambiguity while maintaining our country's ability to address financial crime."

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Lending restrictions

Bank of America, the second-largest US bank, had restricted lending to companies that make assault-style guns used for non-military purposes, following shootings at a high school in Florida early in 2018. Citigroup Inc. also announced its own set of restrictions for clients selling guns that year.

Bank of America went on to loosen its gun restrictions and made similar changes to its energy-lending policies, including dropping a blanket ban on financing for Arctic drilling, according to an environmental and social risk policy from late 2023.

In April of 2024, the Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach led a group of state attorneys general sending a letter to Bank of America's Moynihan. In it, they alleged the bank "appears to be conditioning access to its services on customers having the bank's preferred religious or political views." They cited the denying of services to gun manufacturers and fossil fuel producers, as well as canceling accounts of multiple religious groups.

In its own letter responding to the attorneys general at that time, Bank of America said "religious beliefs or political view-based beliefs are never a factor in any decisions related to our client's accounts." The company said its accounts are subject to federal and state laws, including regarding discrimination.

The issue of debanking customers has come up outside of the US. In the UK, it prompted an outcry a few years ago, when right-wing politician Nigel Farage — who now leads the Reform party — revealed NatWest Group Plc's upmarket Coutts unit had closed his account, saying his political views were a factor in that decision.

The subsequent row led to the resignation of the bosses of NatWest and Coutts, while Farage had vowed to campaign for others who were been "debanked" on questionable grounds. A preliminary review by the UK's Financial Conduct Authority found no evidence that banks were dropping customers for their political opinions.