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The US government is investigating whether JPMorgan Chase provided fair banking access to its customers, as the White House intensifies a crackdown on so-called politicised debanking practices allegedly targeting conservative public figures.
In its quarterly filing on Wednesday, JPMorgan said that it was “responding to requests from government authorities and other external parties regarding, among other things, the firm’s policies and processes and the provision of services to customers and potential customers”.
JPMorgan said it was in response to the issuing of an executive order by President Donald Trump in August that ordered banking regulators to review any policies or practices that might have led to “politicised or unlawful debanking”.
The largest US bank by assets, JPMorgan said that these matters were at various stages, including reviews, investigations and legal proceedings. It did not say which government authorities were conducting the inquiries.
The issue of debanking emerged in the US as a political flashpoint under the Biden administration when companies in certain industries such as cryptocurrencies claimed that they were denied banking access for political reasons.
First Lady Melania Trump also claimed to have had her bank account closed following the storming of the US Capitol on January 6 2021. The investigation into JPMorgan is also particularly notable because the president in August had accused the bank, as well as Bank of America, of turning away his business after he left the White House in 2021.
“I was loaded up with cash and they told me, ‘I’m sorry, sir, we can’t have you. You have 20 days to get out.’ I said, ‘You’ve got to be kidding. I’ve been with you for 35, 40 years,’” Trump said regarding the end of his banking relationship with JPMorgan.
Bank of America also disclosed in its quarterly report filed last week that it was “responding to demands and requests regarding ‘fair access to banking’”.
Bank lobby groups have claimed that any issue around banking access stems from flawed regulatory over-reach in areas including so-called politically exposed persons, which require elevated due diligence. Trump’s executive order directed regulators to re-examine concepts such as “reputation risk” that could prompt banks to turn away clients for political reasons.
