JPMorgan Chase appears to be reversing a policy that led several conservative and nonprofit organizations to stop banking with it, according to the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF).
Fox News report On Friday, the bank announced it was scaling back its WePay service, a move applauded by Christian law firms.
“The service asks merchants to refrain from accepting payments or using services for activities related to ‘social risk issues,’ which the bank defines as ‘allegations or influences related to hate groups, systemic racism, sexual harassment and corporate culture,” the media reported.
In May 2019, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon denied allegations that the bank had frozen conservatives’ bank accounts because of their political views, saying “we have not done that and we will not do that in the future,” according to Breitbart News.
But in March 2023, 14 state treasurers wrote Dimon a letter demanding he stop bank closures that they believed were “politically motivated” and targeted specific industries, people or groups, the outlet reported at the time.
The letter read as follows:
The bank’s apparent attempt to discriminate against politically disadvantaged industries has spilled over into its other activities. Recently, Chase closed the account of the National Commission on Religious Freedom (NCRF) without explanation. After multiple requests to reopen the account, Chase told NCRF it would only consider reopening it if the nonprofit agreed to disclose detailed information about its donors and the criteria it uses to decide which political candidates to support.
This isn’t the first time Chase has been involved in a suspected banking embarrassment case: In 2021, Chase subsidiary WePay rejected a mainstream bank’s ticket payment processing services. [R]At a Republican event hosted by the nonprofit Defense of Liberty, WePay cited a policy that prohibits payment processing services related to “products or activities that encourage, promote, facilitate, or instruct others in hatred or racism” — a vague and opaque term that could easily be used to hide viewpoint-based discrimination.
The ADF said in a statement on Tuesday: Announced The bank released the results of its Viewpoint Diversity Score Business Index and said that while Chase has made progress, it still has work to do, scoring just 9% out of a possible 100%.
“Threats to freedom come not only from big government, but also from big banks and big tech companies that are concentrating power over essential services,” said Jeremy Tedesco, ADF senior counsel and senior vice president of corporate engagement.
“We commend Chase for taking these early positive steps, but the bank needs to do more,” he added.
