The biggest bank in the US, JPMorgan Chase, wouldn’t be what it is if it didn’t know when, and how to toe the line – to its own maximum benefit, at any time.
And so, the financial giant that over the past four years seemed perfectly happy to stay in sync with the Biden administration regarding one of the most controversial and egregious policies a bank can engage in – namely, “debanking” on political/ideological grounds – understands which way the wind now blows.
(But perhaps customers should remain wary of what the future may hold under some different political configuration in the US.)
Right now, in any case, JPMorgan Chase has agreed to a policy change that protects customers from denial of banking services because of their political or religious views.
This involves a change in the Code of Conduct that’s supposed to protect against instances of political or religious debanking.
By the end of July, this new policy is expected to be explicitly spelled out in the Code, stating that customers, suppliers, contractors, and employees can no longer be discriminated against (the bank will “not tolerate” this) because of their political and religious affiliation, views, and related speech.
The changes were pushed by Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys, and the group reports that during recent negotiations over a shareholder proposal by Bowyer Research – tabled earlier this year – “Chase accepted the proposed changes” – while in return, “the shareholder agreed to withdraw its proposal before the company’s annual meeting of stockholders in May.”
“We regularly engage with our shareholders to address their feedback and educate them on our policies. We are glad we were able to come to an agreement. The amendment to language in our Code of Conduct is consistent with prior public statements,” a JPMorgan Chase spokesperson said.
“As the nation’s largest bank, Chase sets the platinum standard for financial institutions throughout the country and the world. No American should ever fear losing access to their bank account because of their religious or political views, and we are glad to see Chase taking tangible steps to implement these critical protections,” said ADF Senior Counsel and Senior Vice President for Corporate Engagement Jeremy Tedesco.
All this comes against the backdrop of both JPMorgan Chase consistently denying – including statements by CEO Jamie Damon – that such practices existed over the last years – and what ADF calls the amassing of its “troubling track record on debanking.”
Some of the cases highlighted here include the 2021 example of JPMorgan Chase debanking conservative groups Defense of Liberty and Arkansas Family Council, and a year later, the canceling of former US Ambassador Sam Brownback’s National Committee for Religious Freedom – at the time, “without explanation.”
