The CEO of another major bank says politically motivated claims about “stopping off” are unfounded.
In a speech before the economic club in Washington, DC Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan He said it was not political bias, it was overregulation of banks, and that customers were banned from the banking system.
“We take everyone away. The real question was frankly overregulation,” Moynihan said. It has been reported According to Bloomberg News.
President Donald Trump publicly denounced the CEO at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland last month, blaming Bank of America for restricting certain clients.
“I hope that many conservatives will start opening banks to conservatives as they complain that banks do not allow businesses with banks and that this includes places called Bank of America. “We'll do that,” the president said.
Trump also blamed JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, who insisted on the same treatment of conservative customers by his bank.
The report says that both banks do not limit their clients based on politics.
“If you look at what happened, that's because money laundering, anti-money laundering interpretation, banking secrets, KYC knows its customers,” Moynihan said. “The banking system has a lot of strain to report suspicious activity and do lots of analysis.”
A Bloomberg report says the bank has been criticized for shutting down customer accounts for unknown reasons. The law also requires regulators to report suspicious activity as a way to prevent money laundering.
“We need to close our accounts and we can't tell people why we did that, and in many cases, the authorities tell them to close accounts that cause confusion. “We're doing that,” Moynihan said Tuesday. “After all, that's about getting these regulations right. I think these regulations open up a dialogue about how to do that.”
Dimon made a similar comment recently when he joined other CEOs for a roundtable on the “Dubaking” issue in Washington.
“The AML/Fincen rules are extraordinary, and a lot of people are kicked out of the system because they feared that banks would be sued and fined. We were able to pay $1 billion,” Dimon said. told reporters.
Pymnts had the same argument after the issue of decanking emerged last year.
“At the heart of the issue is that there may not be a clear, comprehensive regulatory framework to address the unique risks posed by the fintech and cryptocurrency industries,” the report states. . “Finance institutions tasked with navigating the maze of overlapping and often conflicting rules themselves have little incentive to undertake risky clients if the burden of compliance is likely to outweigh the potential benefits. It may not be.”
