A conservative shareholder group lauded JPMorgan Chase this week for agreeing to take steps against political and religious discrimination.
Having succeeded in bringing a shareholder vote to investigate claims that the bank had refused services to conservative customers, the group, which included investor David Bahnsen, lawyers at the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), and Bowyer Research, agreed to drop the proposal after a long series of meetings with the bank’s management.
Mr. Bahnsen said those conversations, together with some actions taken by JPMorgan Chase, left him cautiously optimistic that a “pendulum shift” may be taking place among some of the largest U.S. banks, which have been accused of having a left-wing bias when deciding which people can use their services.
“I think that by engaging in conversations with management, in some cases not critiquing but informing the C-suite of some of the things that were happening, that I earnestly do not believe they knew, I think it just led to a lot of top-down pressure from Park Avenue to right the ship to some degree,” Mr. Bahnsen told The Epoch Times. Park Avenue in New York City is the location of JPMorgan Chase’s headquarters.
“My agenda has never been to force my particular political and theological worldview down their throat,” he said. “It’s more just to accommodate the fact that there are conservatives, there are Christians who bank at JPMorgan and deserve the same rights and privileges that all customers of any other belief system may have.”
The investors say they have seen both concrete steps by the bank and an agreement to continue the conversation on viewpoint discrimination.
Chase’s payment subsidiary, WePay, “dropped its vague and subjective terms of service that allowed it to cancel customers because of ‘social risk,’ while adding language on its website that it wouldn’t discriminate against customers because of their political, social, or religious viewpoints,” according to an email from Jerry Bowyer, president of Bowyer Research.
In addition, Mr. Bowyer stated that JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon has “shifted his political rhetoric in a more neutral direction,” for example, at this week’s shareholder meeting, criticizing how the progressive environmental, social, and governance (ESG) movement has pushed corporate shareholder voting toward political issues and away from financial outcomes. Mr. Dimon also has been outspoken about the need to continue to finance the fossil fuel industry, stating at a House of Representatives hearing in September 2022 that divesting from fossil fuels “would be the road to hell for America.”
An April report by the Committee to Unleash Prosperity, which Mr. Bowyer co-authored, noted that JPMorgan’s shareholder voting record on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues had shifted toward fewer votes in favor of “extreme shareholder proposals,” upgrading its rating to B from C.
JPMorgan Chase affirmed what it said were its longstanding policies against viewpoint discrimination.
“While the language may look new, the policies and practices are not,” a JPMorgan Chase spokesperson told The Epoch Times. “We support clients around the globe and in every state in the U.S., across industries, religions, and political affiliation.
A Global Issue
Major banks around the world have faced criticism that they are refusing services to conservatives on the grounds of “reputational risk.” In the summer of 2023, NatWest, one of the UK’s largest banks, became embroiled in a scandal involving what was alleged to have been the politicized debanking of prominent conservative politician Nigel Farage.Speaking at a State Financial Officers’ Foundation conference in April, Mr. Farage said that after Coutts, the private bank subsidiary of NatWest, closed his accounts, he attempted to open accounts at numerous other banks and was refused by all of them. Using a UK law that requires companies to disclose to customers the information and correspondence that they have collected on them, Mr. Farage said he discovered from internal emails that the decision to debank him stemmed from his conservative views on issues such as Brexit, climate change, and other political issues.
As the scandal broke, regulators in the UK pledged support for Mr. Farage. Financial Services Minister Andrew Griffith stated on Twitter, now known as X, in July 2023 that banks have a “duty not to ‘debank’ because you disagree with someone’s views.”
Federal regulators in the United States have been less supportive of those who say they have been debanked over their beliefs.
“The policies of federal regulators take into account reputational risk, including the negative publicity that might be associated with a customer,” Jeremy Tedesco, senior counsel at ADF, told The Epoch Times. “And we’ve seen it used in the past for banking services to be politicized.”
However, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was supportive of Mr. Bahnsen’s proposal at JPMorgan Chase, allowing it to go forward to a shareholder vote over the objections of the bank’s management.
Officials in red states have also taken up the issue of the politicization of financial services.
In response, Bank of America spokesman Bill Halldin told The Epoch Times that “given the large number of nonprofits we serve that are affiliated with religious organizations, it’s absurd to think religious beliefs are a factor in any account closing decision. Very simply, they are not.”
In May 2023, attorneys general from 19 states penned a letter to JPMorgan Chase, alleging that “JPMorgan Chase & Co. has persistently discriminated against certain customers due to their religious or political affiliation.”
In blue states, however, regulators appear to be moving in the opposite direction. A case currently before the Supreme Court concerns allegations by the National Rifle Association (NRA) that New York Department of Financial Services head Maria Vullo violated the group’s free speech rights by urging banks and insurance companies that worked with the NRA to cut ties with the group.
Meanwhile, bank shareholders who are pressing this issue vow to continue their efforts.
“Americans shouldn’t have to worry that, when they show up at a supermarket or try to pay for their gas, they can’t because the bank has closed their account for vague reasons, which are ultimately because of their political or religious expression,” Mr. Tedesco said. “It’s not good for any American to have a politicized banking and financial system.
“We need that system to serve everybody of all beliefs, get out of the way of politics, and let people access their money and participate in the marketplace freely.”
