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Last spring, 15 state attorney generals wrote to Bank of America warning that its politically motivated debanking targeting conservatives and religious people was under the looking glass.
After taking office, President Trump directly challenged Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan to stop discriminating against conservatives. “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. What you’re doing is wrong.”
But instead of ending its political discrimination, BOA launched a lobbying campaign blaming debanking on too much government regulation. Moynihan denied discriminating against conservatives and claimed that the issue was “anti-money-laundering regulations”.
We know that’s not true because the David Horowitz Freedom Center was debanked by a BOA subsidiary. And we also know that nothing has changed because Bank of America’s customer service agreement still contains a section on “brand damaging activities”, a general term that can be used to target any conservative, and classes “materials that promote intolerance” together with terrorist funding, fraud and pornography. This is not about “money-laundering regulations” but BOA’s choice to selectively target conservatives in its own documents.
BOA’s ESG policy admits that it specifically sets out to discriminate against customers who manufacture firearms, drill for oil or mine for coal, run coal plants and detain illegal aliens for ICE. This latter move is effectively a boycott against the United States government.
After receiving $45 billion during the big bank bailout accompanied by a hefty $100 billion guarantee against losses on toxic assets, Bank of America repaid the government and the American People by taking part in leftist debanking campaigns meant to raise the price of heating homes, driving cars and purchasing guns.
And also making it more difficult for the government to fight illegal mass migration by debanking “companies that provide prisoner and immigrant detention services for U.S. federal and state governments”. None of this has anything to do with “overregulation” or “money laundering”.
“We’re happy to serve anyone,” CEO Moynihan claimed. Anyone who isn’t a conservative.
Bank of America lied. It should face the consequences. Especially because other banks are now getting in line and trying to improve their behavior even as BOA remains a scofflaw.
While Bank of America doubled down on debanking, other banks are rethinking their positions,
Citibank issued a new statement this month promising to update its internal employee Code of Conduct and external policies to state that it does not “discriminate on the basis of political affiliation in the same way we are clear that we do not discriminate on the basis of other traits such as race and religion” and promised employee “trainings to ensure compliance.”
It also dropped its ban on firearms sellers.
However Citigroup’s ESG policy shows it continues to discriminate against coal mining, oil and gas. Considering that Citi benefited from $476 billion in cash and guarantees, more pressure is needed to bring it into line and end all political discrimination. Especially of the ESG kind.
Banks are backing away from some of their past virtue signaling. After extended battles over anti-Christian discrimination JP Morgan Chase reportedly committed to ending the practice. Wells Fargo retreated from some of its net zero emissions targets and even Bank of America is reportedly considering ending its ESG ban on lending to private detention facilities.
“I was never a firm believer in bias training,” CEO Jamie Dimon claimed, questioning some of the DEI policies. “I saw how we were spending money on some of this stupid sh-t, and it really pissed me off.”
But no one should be fooled into thinking that the big banks are voluntarily backing away.
New state laws, including in Florida and Texas, and growing oversight by state attorneys and by the Trump administration, have made the old radical virtue signaling policies riskier than ever.
Earlier this year, Goldman Sachs announced that it would stop mandating diversity for startup boards because it had become legally risky after a similar disclosure demand by Nasdaq was crushed.
Goldman Sachs and Citigroup justified their retreats as Mission Accomplished.
“I think what is important is that you have a diversity of views on that board and if you look at these companies they’ve all embraced diversity, it’s moved along,” GS Vice Chair Richard Gnodde argued. “I think it has served its purpose.”
Citigroup claimed that its gun debanking was “intended to promote the adoption of best sales practices as prudent risk management and… many retailers have been following these best practices.”
But what really moved the dial was government action.
Bank of America still believes that it can lobby its way out from under the consequences of discriminating against conservatives, but the David Horowitz Freedom Center will remain vigilant in exposing its lies and excuses. The Trump administration, members of Congress and state governments should not be fooled by Bank of America’s denials and blame-shifting.
BOA discriminates against conservatives because its policies say so. Until Bank of America drops its ESG policies and the “brand” language targeting “intolerance” in its customer service agreement, it will remain in violation of state laws and policies by the Trump administration. The time for maximum pressure and total accountability on the big woke bank is now.
The David Horowitz Freedom Center fought debanking and won. We know how to do it.
Big banks are on the run, but they can’t be allowed to get away with lying about their actions. This is the time for them to be held accountable and to be forced to make real measurable policy commitments. Citibank’s agreement should be the bare minimum expected of BOA and any woke bank that engaged in discrimination against its customers. The maximum should be an end to all ESG policies that involve any kind of discrimination against legal industries.
The American People bailed out the big banks. They didn’t do it so that those banks could collude with environmental and other radical leftist groups to censor them, raise prices and make life worse for them. It’s time for the big banks to follow the money and drop the politics.
