Trump says banks discriminate against his supporters

[WASHINGTON] US President Donald Trump on Tuesday (Aug 5) said he believes that banks discriminate against him and his supporters, adding that Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase had previously refused to accept his deposits.

“They totally discriminate against, I think, me maybe even more, but they discriminate against many conservatives,” he told CNBC in an interview. “I think the word might be Trump supporters more than conservatives.”

Trump made the comments when asked about a report by the Wall Street Journal that said he planned to punish banks that discriminated against conservatives, but did not address the order specifically.

The order instructs regulators to review banks for “politicised or unlawful debanking” practices, according to a draft reviewed by Reuters.

“Well, they did discriminate,” Trump said of actions taken by JPMorgan Chase after his first term in office. “I had hundreds of millions, I had many, many accounts loaded up with cash … and they told me, ‘I’m sorry sir, we can’t have you. You have 20 days to get out.’”

Trump said he subsequently tried to deposit funds with Bank of America and was also refused, and eventually split the cash among a number of smaller banks.

“The banks discriminated against me very badly,” he said.

In a statement, JPMorgan did not address the president’s specific claim that it had discriminated against him.

“We don’t close accounts for political reasons, and we agree with President Trump that regulatory change is desperately needed,” JPMorgan said. “We commend the White House for addressing this issue and look forward to working with them to get this right.”

Bank of America declined to comment.

Trump said, without providing evidence, that he believed that the banks’ refusal to take his deposits indicated that the administration of former President Joe Biden had encouraged banking regulators to “destroy Trump.”

The Wall Street Journal reported late on Monday that the expected executive order would instruct regulators to investigate whether any financial institutions breach the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, antitrust laws or consumer financial protection laws by dropping customers for political reasons.

It said the order could be signed as early as this week, authorising monetary penalties, consent decrees or other disciplinary measures against violators.

The White House had no immediate comment on the reported order.

Trump in January said the CEOs of JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America denied services to conservatives. At the time, the two banks denied making banking decisions based on politics. REUTERS