Donald Trump:
“What you're doing is wrong.”
Simone del Rosario:
Bank of America's CEO wasn't expecting that.
Brian Moynihan asked President Donald Trump about his plans to maintain economic growth during part of a Q&A at the World Economic Forum.
Trump took the opportunity to bring conservative accusations of condemnation to the CEO of the world's largest bank. It's an accusation the bank has repeatedly denied.
Donald Trump:
“Speaking of you, you've done a great job, but I hope you start opening up banks to conservatives, because a lot of conservatives say banks don't allow business inside banks. Because that includes a place called the Bank of America, this conservative doesn't do conservative business, and that regular mission for Biden, other than you and Jamie. I don't know if there's that regular assignment for that.
Simone del Rosario:
The Jamie in question is, of course, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon. He was not part of the panel. For his part, Moynihan did not respond to Trump's claims, but he deflected.
Brian Moynihan:
President, I say your friend Gianni said hello, please give me hello and that we will sponsor the World Cup both this summer club and next year when it comes. I'm looking forward to it so thank you for getting it to United State.
Simone del Rosario:
In a statement to Straight Arrow News, Bank of America says political ideology has no bearing on customers' decisions.
“We serve more than 70 million clients and welcome conservatives. We are required to comply with extensive government rules and regulations that may result in a decision to terminate a client relationship. . There is no political explanation and no political litmus test,” B told The San in an email.
Conservatives say big banks have been blaming them for years. And the allegations gained widespread attention after billionaire engineer and venture capitalist Marc Andreessen spoke out about the “Joe Rogan experience.”
Marc Andreessen:
This is where government and business intertwine. Getting back to your fascism point, there's no constitutional amendment that says the government can't restrict your speech, but there's no constitutional amendment that says the government can't bank you, right? And they, if they can't do one thing, they do another, and they don't have to evacuate you. They have to put pressure on private sector banks to do it. And private sector banks do it because they're expected to, but the government gets to say, we didn't do it. It was a private company that did it. And of course, JPMorgan can decide who it wants to have as customers.
{TC:1:36:32 – 1:36:55}
And a lot of this started about 15 years ago with this thing called Operation Choke Point. So they have a constant battle under Obama because prostitution started to become legal, marijuana started to become legal. Management, they started banks, legal marijuana businesses, escort businesses, and then, and gun stores as well as gun manufacturers.
Simone del Rosario:
And that caught Dimon's attention. He talked about how he reacted to that interview on an episode of Chase's “The Unshakeables” podcast earlier this week.
Jamie Dimon:
Then I called Marc Andreessen. he is my friend I would like to explain to him that no one relies on banks because of political or religious affiliation, period. Now, when we bank someone, they often blame the reason, but that's not the reason. We don’t bank marijuana businesses. Because there is no federal law around it. We cannot simply follow the law. If there's a federal law, we're probably banking some crypto companies. Very carefully, we are legally responsible for combating sex trafficking, money laundering, and tax evasion. It's the Bank Secrecy Act, the Right Bank Secrecy Act, and we have to abide by it.
Simone del Rosario:
As we said, the claims have been around for years. Some in the banking industry say Trump's attention to the issue could lead to regulatory changes.
Republicans blame the big banks for being the banking gunners and the fossil fuel companies. And there's some background on where it came from.
In 2018, Bank of America enacted rules to stop lending money to gun manufacturers that make “military-style weapons.” In December 2023, that rule clarified that these clients and transactions “must go through an enhanced due diligence process and be escalated to the most senior risk review body.”
Citigroup also enacted a policy in 2018 requiring its corporate customers to stop selling firearms to people who have not passed a background check or are under 21 years of age.
On the environmental front, activist groups have been calling for banks to stop investing in fossil fuel industries for years. However, dozens of the world's largest banks have recently circulated loans totaling more than $700 billion in the industry by 2023.
Meanwhile, at the beginning of January, the country's six largest banks left the United Nations-backed Net Zero Banking Alliance.
For SAN, I'm SDR.