Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Guarantees Fair Banking for All Americans

PROHIBITING POLITICIZED OR UNLAWFUL DEBANKING: Today, President Donald J. Trump signed an Executive Order to ensure that Federal regulators do not promote policies and practices that allow financial institutions to deny or restrict services based on political beliefs, religious beliefs, or lawful business activities, ensuring fair access to banking for all Americans.

• The Order directs Federal banking regulators to remove reputational risk and other equivalent concepts that enable politicized or unlawful debanking from their guidance, examination manuals and other materials.
• The Order instructs the Small Business Administration to require all financial institutions subject to its jurisdiction to make reasonable efforts to reinstate clients and potential clients previously denied services due to unlawful debanking.
• The Order directs the Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Assistant to the President for Economic Policy, to develop a comprehensive strategy to further combat politicized or unlawful debanking activities, including potential legislative or regulatory solutions.
• The Order requires Federal banking regulators to review financial institutions for past or current policies encouraging politicized or unlawful debanking and take remedial actions, including fines or consent decrees.
• The Order further requires Federal banking regulators to review supervisory and complaint data for instances of unlawful debanking based on religion and refer such cases to the Attorney General.

ADDRESSING UNFAIR BANKING PRACTICES: President Trump believes that no American should be denied access to financial services because of their political or religious beliefs, and that banking decisions must solely be made on the basis of individualized, objective, and risk-based analyses.

• This Order responds to the systemic abuses by financial institutions that undermine free expression and economic opportunity. Individuals and businesses that are debanked cannot hold a bank account, process everyday transactions, or participate fully in our economy.
• One major banking institution denied ticket-payment processing services for a Republican event, reversing the decision only after it received public attention.
• Federal regulators encouraged banks to flag individuals for transactions with companies like Bass Pro Shop or Cabela’s, or for using terms like “Trump” or “MAGA” in peer-to-peer payments, without evidence of criminal activity.
• President Trump has stated that two major banks even denied his own business.
• Earlier this year, the Senate Banking Committee held a hearing on this issue, with witnesses sharing their own firsthand experiences of being debanked.
• Operation Chokepoint, a well-documented Federal debanking initiative, targeted lawful industries for political reasons.
• The digital assets industry has also been the target of unfair debanking initiatives.
• These practices erode public trust in banking institutions and regulators, harm livelihoods, freeze payrolls, and impose significant financial burdens on law-abiding Americans.

UPHOLDING ECONOMIC FREEDOM: President Trump is committed to protecting Americans’ constitutional rights and reducing regulatory overreach that stifles American businesses and individuals.

• President Trump has expressed that the banks “discriminate against many conservatives,” including himself.
•  President Trump: “The banks discriminate against conservatives, they discriminate against religion, because they’re afraid of the radical left, I suspect. I think the bank regulators are doing a big number of the banks because they’re not allowed to do business with you. And we’re going to get those banks when we get in office. We’re going to get them. Nobody knows the banking industry better than me, and I’m not going to let them take advantage of you any longer. They’ve taken advantage and what they do to the people in this room, and by the way, millions and millions of others, is a disgrace. We’re going to end it.”
• The Trump Administration has already ended Operation Chokepoint 2.0 once and for all by working to end regulatory efforts that deny banking services to the digital assets industry.