Speaking to bankers in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that President Donald Trump is focusing his policy &#8220;on Main Street,&#8221; adding that small businesses have been overlooked while &#8220;Wall Street has grown wealthier than ever before.&#8221;
Bessent made the <a href="https://www.c-span.org/program/public-affairs-event/treasury-secretary-bessent-remarks-at-bankers-association-summit/658349" target="_blank" rel="noopener">remarks</a> at the American Bankers Association Summit, discussing Trump&#8217;s economic policy and tariffs as global markets respond to the president&#8217;s tariff rollout. Following Trump&#8217;s &#8220;Liberation Day&#8221; tariffs announcement last Wednesday, U.S. stocks immediately dipped and have yet to recover as anxiety persists on Wall Street.
The treasury secretary began his speech by emphasizing the importance of Main Street over Wall Street, arguing that Trump &#8220;understands that national strength comes from the ground up, not from the top down, and this concept applies to good government just as it does to banking and capital coordination.&#8221;
&#8220;For too long, financial policy has served large financial institutions at the expense of smaller ones. No more,&#8221; Bessent said. &#8220;This administration aims to give all banks the chance to succeed, whether it&#8217;s JP Morgan or your local mortgage and loan.&#8221;
&#8220;For the last four decades, basically since I began my career in Wall Street, Wall Street has grown wealthier than ever before, and it can continue to grow and do well,&#8221; he added. &#8220;But for the next four years, the Trump agenda is focused on Main Street. It&#8217;s Main Street&#8217;s turn to hire workers. It&#8217;s Main Street&#8217;s turn to drive investment. And it&#8217;s Main Street&#8217;s turn to restore the American dream.&#8221;
In a Q&amp;A session following his speech, Bessent addressed Trump&#8217;s tariffs and their effect on the stock market, acknowledging that &#8220;there is a little uncertainty,&#8221; but he added that corporate executives he&#8217;s talked to say &#8220;the economy is very solid.&#8221;
&#8220;We are in pretty good shape,&#8221; Bessent said.
As trade deals remain up in the air and China doubles down on retaliating with tariffs on American goods, Bessent said that he believes the Trump administration &#8220;can probably&#8221; strike deals with its allies around the world, &#8220;and then we can approach China as a group.&#8221;
&#8220;We&#8217;ve been overwhelmed with the response to come to D.C. and negotiate,&#8221; Bessent continued, adding, &#8220;I think we have about 70 negotiations lined up. I&#8217;m not planning on going anywhere for Easter.&#8221;

Scott Bessent

Scott Bessent Says Trump Is Prioritizing Main Street Over Wall Street In Speech To Bankers

Banks

Donald Trump

Economy

Politics

Tariffs

Wall Street

Working in corporate engagement, I often hear questions about why the ‘long game’ matters in changing woke company policies. If executive orders can instantly push companies away from DEI or ESG initiatives, why take other pathways? The answer is clear: lasting change takes time. JPMorgan Chase, the nation’s largest bank, just proved this with a major policy shift — one that speaks louder than any theory ever could.
In 2022, JPMorgan Chase <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/03/10/opinion/i-was-debanked-by-jpmorgan-chase-but-fought-back-and-won/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">debanked</a> former U.S. Senator and Ambassador Sam Brownback, after Brownback opened an account for the newly-formed National Committee for Religious Freedom. The son of a Kansas farmer, Brownback refused to back down. When Brownback asked the bank for its rationale in shuttering his account, he was met with conflicting (and incorrect) explanations as to why.
Brownback’s debanking experience was the start of a major wave of scrutiny over exactly what conditions a bank will close a customer’s account. Victims range from nonprofit organizations like Indigenous Advance, an organization serving Ugandan widows &amp; orphans debanked by Bank of America in 2023, to Melania &amp; Barron Trump, who Melania <a href="https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/2025-01-24-Letter.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">described</a> as having been debanked in her memoir, prompting further inquiry from the House Committee on Oversight.
Yet JPMorgan consistently ranked as one of the major bad actors in the debanking saga, closing not only Brownback’s account (and actually <a href="https://www.ag.ky.gov/Press%20Release%20Attachments/23.5.2%20Letter%20to%20Chase.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">asked</a> for his org’s donor list for restoring service) but several other conservative nonprofits. The biggest bank in America was quickly racking up hits on its record of political neutrality and customer equality.
This trend might have gone unaddressed had the Right simply let the issue lie. Luckily, some of the most influential names in both the conservative legal, financial, and government worlds stepped up to the plate. Pressure for increased transparency and commitments to ditch any policies that could lead to a client being debanked for political reasons has come from all directions, from legal giants like <a href="https://adfmedia.org/press-release/19-states-chase-stop-misleading-customers-commit-equality-treatment/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Alliance Defending Freedom</a> to <a href="https://www.viewpointdiversityscore.org/news/statement-on-debanking-and-free-speech" target="_blank" rel="noopener">notable financial professionals</a> to <a href="https://www.ag.ky.gov/Press%20Release%20Attachments/23.5.2%20Letter%20to%20Chase.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">state financial officers and attorneys general</a>. As that public pressure mounted, shareholder pressure has been growing from the inside for the past three years, spurred on by organizations like the firm I work for, Bowyer Research, with Chase investors like financial advisor David Bahnsen spending literal years <a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/bahnsen-takes-the-fight-today-to-jpmorgan-chase/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">urging</a> the company to clarify its approach to debanking — and fix its spotty track record on political neutrality.
And Chase listened.
In 2023, JPMorgan made the decision to axe its “social risk” policy from its payment processing arm, no longer allowing vague terms like “intolerance” and “hate” to determine whether a customer was fit to continue doing business at Chase. But the biggest win so far came several days ago, when Chase agreed to a policy change explicitly protecting customers and employees from discrimination based on religious or political views.
This is huge. Many stories about companies ditching woke policies consist of the company putting out a public statement (and often the controversy that follows). Statements are great, but they’re not the ideal. Companies can hide behind statements — and do. Several companies that have publicly made statements supporting political neutrality clearly have work to do when it comes to actually putting their policies where their mouths are.
But companies can’t hide behind policy changes. That’s why they’re a sign of both real progress and good faith. Shareholders like Bahnsen, and groups like ADF &amp; Bowyer Research, have been engaging with Chase for years to get this change. Make no mistake: Chase’s willingness to protect against future political/religious debanking is the result of real shareholders using real influence to create real change. It’s a victory for Chase’s customers and shareholders, but also for the company itself. It’s a win for a company to clear up concerns about corporate bias, a win that’s been a long time coming, and a win that hopefully many other banks will find instructive.
* * *
Isaac Willour is an award-winning journalist focusing on race, culture, and American conservatism, as well as a corporate relations analyst at Bowyer Research. His work has been featured at outlets including USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times Opinion, C-SPAN, and The Daily Wire. He is a member of the Young Voices contributor program and can be found on X <a href="https://twitter.com/IsaacWillour" target="_blank" rel="noopener">@IsaacWillour</a>.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Major US Bank Bosses To Discuss Debanking With Senate Committee

Major Win: JPMorgan Chase Ends Political Debanking

Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF)

Banking

Bias

Censorship

Christians

Conservatives

Corporations

debanking

Jamie Dimon

JP Morgan

Opinion

Woke Culture

Debanking — when a bank decides they do not want you as a customer — has become a hot topic amid a flurry of accusations from people and companies who say they were kicked out of their banks over their politics.
The apparent targets of debanking tend to be prominent people on the Right and cryptocurrency companies, which tend to lean right and are under scrutiny from regulators. Former First Lady Melania Trump said in her recently published memoir that both she and her son Barron were refused bank accounts after January 6.
“I was shocked and dismayed to learn that my long-time bank decided to terminate my account and deny my son the opportunity to open a new one,” Trump <a href="https://nypost.com/2024/10/09/us-news/barron-trump-was-denied-bank-account-due-to-cancel-mob-mom-melania-claims/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a>.
She blamed the “venom of cancel culture” and said she had “serious concerns about civil rights violations.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Your bank account will be closed if you don’t follow orders. 
Don’t believe me? 
WATCH👇 <a href="https://t.co/4PB9lhfQuv">pic.twitter.com/4PB9lhfQuv</a>
&mdash; Bitcoin Archive (@BTC_Archive) <a href="https://twitter.com/BTC_Archive/status/1861854554049909082?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 27, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Last month, conservative author Dinesh D&#8217;Souza claimed he was kicked out of Chase Bank without explanation.
&#8220;Walked in one day to discover they had closed my account,&#8221; D&#8217;Souza <a href="https://x.com/DineshDSouza/status/1862611334002544987" target="_blank" rel="noopener">posted</a> on X. &#8220;The local branch couldn’t understand it since I was a good and known customer. They said the order came from the top with no explanation given or even available!&#8221;
When a person or company is debanked, they are blocked from having a bank account at one or multiple banks, often with little explanation. Sometimes they are blocked from other financial services, such as making credit card transactions or using payroll platforms. If they cannot find another bank, they may be forced to rely on alternatives, like check cashing services with high fees and interest.
<a href="https://get.dailywire.com/">50% OFF ALL DAILY WIRE ANNUAL MEMBERSHIPS FOR A LIMITED TIME!</a>
Meanwhile, debanking hurts their reputation.
Critics <a href="https://medium.com/@nic__carter/marc-andreessen-and-the-cfpb-debunking-the-debanking-debunkers-33e934442647" target="_blank" rel="noopener">note</a> that debanking resembles Big Tech&#8217;s censorship at the behest of the government <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/facebook-docs-reveal-fbi-agent-made-completely-false-congressional-statements-involving-hunter-biden-laptop-jordan-says" target="_blank" rel="noopener">during</a> recent presidential elections.
Marc Andreessen, the tech billionaire founder of venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, which invests in dozens of crypto companies, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ye8MOfxD5nU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">spoke</a> in depth about debanking last month on Joe Rogan&#8217;s podcast. Andreessen said the Biden administration has used debanking to target its political opponents and crypto company founders.
&#8220;We&#8217;ve had like 30 founders debanked in the last four years,&#8221; he told Rogan. &#8220;It&#8217;s been a big recurring pattern. This is one of the reasons why we ended up supporting Trump. We just can&#8217;t live in this world. We can&#8217;t live in a world where somebody starts a company that&#8217;s a completely legal thing and then they literally get sanctioned and embargoed by the United States government.&#8221;
The Biden administration&#8217;s targeting is an expansion of the Obama administration&#8217;s debanking of certain legal businesses, including gambling, marijuana, prostitution, and gun shops, <a href="https://www.cei.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Iain-Murray-Operation-Choke-Point.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">under</a> a program called Operation Choke Point, Andreessen said.
&#8220;This administration extended that concept to apply it to tech founders, crypto founders, and just generally political opponents. So that&#8217;s been super pernicious,&#8221; Andreessen said.
Andreessen said that while the First Amendment protects speech, there is no constitutional amendment saying the government cannot debank you, so the government pressures private banks to do so. The banks comply because they rely on the government to exist, he <a href="https://x.com/pmarca/status/1862683729292083551" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>.
&#8220;The government gets to say, &#8216;we didn&#8217;t do it,'&#8221; he said, and this system &#8220;lets bureaucrats do to American citizens the same thing we do to Iran, just kick you out of the financial system.&#8221;
&#8220;It&#8217;s just raw administrative power,&#8221; Andreessen said.
After Andreessen&#8217;s interview, a string of crypto founders <a href="https://x.com/davidmarcus/status/1862654506774810641" target="_blank" rel="noopener">spoke</a> out <a href="https://x.com/sidkal/status/1862117529667199033" target="_blank" rel="noopener">about</a> their experiences being debanked.
Elon Musk, who himself recently <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/shamelessly-breaking-the-law-elon-musk-blasts-california-officials-denying-spacex-launches" target="_blank" rel="noopener">faced</a> political discrimination against his SpaceX rocket launches by a California regulator, also spoke out and <a href="https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1862640443789357487" target="_blank" rel="noopener">called</a> for it to be a federal crime to debank political enemies. Musk <a href="https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1862633099906937251" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> debanking shows &#8220;just how evil the government has been.&#8221;
As far as which regulators are involved, critics mainly point the finger at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, but they also <a href="https://a16zcrypto.com/posts/article/debanking-explained/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">take</a> aim at the Department of Justice, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Reserve Board, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Earlier this month, the crypto industry finally uncovered what it says is hard proof that federal regulators have been targeting them.
Documents obtained by the crypto platform Coinbase during a court fight <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2024/12/05/u-s-regulator-told-banks-to-lay-off-crypto-letters-obtained-by-coinbase-reveal" target="_blank" rel="noopener">showed</a> that in 2022, crypto companies saw their banking activity blocked at a large number of banks by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
&#8220;We respectfully ask that you pause all crypto asset-related activity,&#8221; the banking regulator wrote to banks in one message.
Advocates for cracking down on crypto <a href="https://a16zcrypto.com/posts/article/debanking-explained/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">say</a> they aim to prevent risky businesses from doing business.
Last year, the White House cited crypto as it <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/nec/briefing-room/2023/01/27/the-administrations-roadmap-to-mitigate-cryptocurrencies-risks/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">encouraged</a> banks to separate “risky digital assets from the banking system.” This is also a common cry <a href="https://x.com/SenWarren/status/1773805978762322376" target="_blank" rel="noopener">from</a> Sen. Elizabeth Warren, (D-MA) who received backlash for <a href="https://news.bitcoin.com/elizabeth-warren-explains-her-anti-crypto-army-stance-waves-of-democrats-oppose-her-bitcoin-criticism/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">vowing</a> to mobilize an &#8220;anti-crypto army.&#8221;
However, the crypto world is optimistic about the next few years.
President-elect Donald Trump has promised to make the United States the “crypto capital of the planet,” and he acknowledged the ire around debanking during his campaign.
“They target your banks. They choke off your financial services,” he told a Bitcoin conference in Nashville in July.
Earlier this month, Trump appointed venture capitalist David Sacks the White House AI and Crypto Czar. Sacks previously <a href="https://www.thefp.com/p/how-big-tech-is-strangling-your-freedom" target="_blank" rel="noopener">criticized</a> PayPal, where he was product manager, for its 2017 <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/paypal-suspends-dozens-of-racist-groups-sites-altright-com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ban</a> on what it deemed right-wing extremists.
Conservatives have expressed other concerns about banks allegedly targeting them as well.
Although not debanking exactly, after the January 6 Capitol riot, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network instructed banks to comb through customer transactions for “suspicious charges,” which included words like “MAGA” and “Trump” as well as guns and religious texts.
Under a new Trump administration, conservatives hope regulators will be more reluctant to target them through the banking system, and they may be in luck.
Trump <a href="https://www.politico.com/newsletters/morning-money/2024/07/03/the-looming-battle-over-debanking-00166402" target="_blank" rel="noopener">promised</a> at a rally this year that once elected he will “place strong protections to stop banks and regulators from trying to debank you from your political beliefs.”

Hand Putting Card into ATM

What Is Debanking And Why Are People Talking About It?

Cryptocurrency

Deep State

America’s most powerful financial institutions appear to be promoting young professionals on the basis of race and sex in the name of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).
Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo both hosted summer programs that barred white men unless they happened to be disabled, a veteran, or identify as LGBT. Goldman Sachs held career advancement summits tailored to students of specific demographic backgrounds, while JP Morgan hosted a scholarship and internship program that openly excluded white and Asian students. Bank of America, meanwhile, ran a &#8220;diversity fellowship&#8221; program that solicited applicants from non-white, non-Asian racial backgrounds.
The programs collectively furthered the leftwing DEI agenda, which presupposes certain demographic groups benefit from undue privilege at the expense of oppressed groups. Corporations across various industries have established racially-based hiring and advancement programs to rectify this alleged injustice by engaging in anti-white, and in some cases, anti-Asian discrimination, which may run afoul of the law.
<a href="https://www.amiracist.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.amiracist.com/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1723906643414000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0FrEnqphhXjx_5ccQOsL_i">Tickets for “Am I Racist?” are on sale NOW! Buy here for a theater near you.</a>
The financial industry&#8217;s embrace of DEI could be disastrous, <a href="https://www.newfounding.com">New Founding</a> CEO Nate Fischer told The Daily Wire.
&#8220;The move to DEI reflects a broader trend away from even aiming for the entrepreneurial investment of capital—a primary driver of wealth creation in our country—and toward a bureaucratic, formulaic model of capital allocation that rewards large bureaucratic corporations and other politically connected parties rather than those with the potential to produce strong returns,&#8221; Fischer explained.
Morgan Stanley’s <a href="https://morganstanley.tal.net/vx/candidate/apply/16329">Early Insights</a> program, a summer training program that teaches undergraduate students about the financial field, is aimed specifically at those who come from “historically underrepresented populations” and gives participants the opportunity to apply for a summer analyst position.
“One way we demonstrate our commitment to diversity is through our Summer Internship Programs,” Morgan Stanley says, calling it “an integral part of our diversity recruiting efforts.”
“Historically underrepresented populations in the finance industry include: women, Hispanic, Black, veteran, disabled, LGBTQ+, and first-generation college student populations,” Morgan Stanley states under the header “eligibility requirements.”
Morgan Stanley is far from the only financial institution that appears to discriminate against white and Asian men. Wells Fargo also hosted an <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20230805065849/https://www.wellsfargojobs.com/en/university-programs/cib-mba-diversity-fellowship/">MBA Diversity Fellowship</a> that similarly steers applicants into a summer internship program and offers $35,000 towards the MBA programs of those who accept and complete the internship program.
“The fellowship is designed to be a best-in-class program to pipeline high-potential underrepresented candidates into our Investment Banking Summer Associate Program,” Wells Fargo states. The institution goes on to explain that the term “underrepresented candidates” includes those who are “female, Black/African American, Latinx/Hispanic, Asian, Native American/Alaskan Native and LGBTQIA+ students, as well as protected veterans and people with disabilities.”
Goldman Sachs <a href="https://www.goldmansachs.com/careers/students/programs/americas/possibilities-summits.html">Possibilities Summits</a> does not appear to be racially-biased at first blush, merely intended for undergraduate students who want to “cultivate top industry skills and explore the wealth of opportunities available at Goldman Sachs.”
But the company hosts several summits, each aimed at a different identity group. There’s the “Black Possibilities Summit,” “HBCU Possibilities Summit,” “Hispanic/Latinx Possibilities Summit,” and the “Women’s Possibilities Summit.” White and Asian men only appear to be eligible if they meet the criteria of other identity-based summits for those who identify as LGBT, are veterans, attend a City of New York school, or are disabled.
A now-deleted page from JP Morgan advertised an undergraduate scholarship and internship program that appeared to explicitly engage in racial discrimination against white and Asian students. The details of JP Morgan’s “Launching Leaders Undergraduate Program” have been <a href="https://archive.ph/L39XO">preserved</a> on the Baruch College website.
“The program is open to Black, Hispanic and Native American sophomores and juniors from all majors who are interested in financial services and have a 3.5 GPA minimum,” the description reads. “The Launching Leaders Undergraduate Scholarship includes internship opportunities, as well as scholarships of up to $15,000. It gives talented Black, Hispanic and Native American students the chance to fulfill their career ambitions.”
A spokeswoman for JP Morgan told The Daily Wire that the company has not hosted the program for “many years,” but did not respond when asked if the company was willing to state on the record that it would not host discriminatory internship programs in the future.
<a href="http://www.amiracist.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.amiracist.com/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1723906643410000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1iu8MeX_3KeUUnmn0zKHxE">WATCH THE TRAILER FOR &#8216;AM I RACIST?&#8217; — A MATT WALSH COMEDY ON DEI</a>
Bank of America&#8217;s MBA Diversity Fellowship Program “will award merit-based fellowships to individuals who are Black/African American, Hispanic/Latino, Native American, military veterans, LGBT+, students with disabilities and women in their first year of business school.”
The financial institution adds a caveat, however, and explains “while our goal is to target underrepresented groups, all eligible students regardless of background are encouraged to apply.”
While many of these internship and career opportunity postings do not explicitly bar people from certain backgrounds from applying, they do indicate that those from certain backgrounds are particularly encouraged to apply, and necessitate that those from white or Asian backgrounds meet other criteria that those from other backgrounds are not required to meet as a condition of eligibility.
David Bernstein, a professor at George Mason&#8217;s Antonin Scalia School of Law, told The Daily Wire that companies may still be engaging in illegal discrimination even if they technically allow certain qualified whites or Asians into programs.
&#8220;If you are giving illegal preferences based on race, they don&#8217;t become lawful because you are also giving other preferences not based on race,&#8221; Bernstein explained.
He added that the Biden administration appears to have adopted the perspective that programs like those from these financial institutions do not constitute discrimination before calling this approach &#8220;clearly inconsistent with Supreme Court precedent.&#8221;
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) does <a href="https://www.eeoc.gov/prohibited-employment-policiespractices">discuss</a> job recruitment and advertising practices, specifically barring those that show racial preferences.
“It is illegal for an employer to publish a job advertisement that shows a preference for or discourages someone from applying for a job because of his or her race, color, religion, sex,” the EEOC explains. “It is also illegal for an employer to recruit new employees in a way that discriminates against them.”
The financial and banking sectors are hardly the only industries that have openly discriminated against white and Asian applicants, however. A series of investigations from The Daily Wire revealed that DEI discrimination is commonplace across a range of different industries.
NASCAR, for example, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/blatantly-illegal-nascar-bans-white-applicants-from-diversity-internship">hosted two different internships</a> that explicitly listed certain racial backgrounds as program requirements, only omitting white people. Bernstein told The Daily Wire that NASCAR&#8217;s program requirements were “blatantly illegal.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
&#8220;Blatantly Illegal:&#8221; NASCAR hosted a paid &#8220;diversity internship&#8221; that banned white applicants on the basis of their race, my latest report in <a href="https://twitter.com/realDailyWire?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@realDailyWire</a> reveals.
But it&#8217;s just one of NASCAR&#8217;s several racially discriminatory diversity initiatives.
Thread🧵 <a href="https://t.co/hDWqsAd1iX">pic.twitter.com/hDWqsAd1iX</a>
— Spencer Lindquist 🇺🇸 (@SpencerLndqst) <a href="https://twitter.com/SpencerLndqst/status/1696158071221866511?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 28, 2023</a></blockquote>
The owner of the New England Patriots, Robert Kraft, recently <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/new-england-patriots-owner-under-fire-for-discriminatory-bipoc-job-requirement">came under fire</a> after it was revealed that his company, the Kraft Group, listed a job posting that was only open to those who are “BIPOC,” an acronym that stands for “black, indigenous, people of color.”
Multiple major tech companies have also held programs that discriminate against white and Asian people on the basis of their race. The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/oracle-internship-scholarship-opportunities-bar-whites-and-asians-on-the-basis-of-race">revealed</a> that Oracle hosted internship and scholarship opportunities that barred both whites and Asians, with approved racial groups being listed under the program’s “eligibility requirements.”
Apple hosted an entrepreneur training program that required participating companies to have “a black, Hispanic/Latinx, or Indigenous founder, cofounder, or CEO” as well as a developer from the same racial and ethnic backgrounds, The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/apple-entrepreneur-camp-program-bars-applicants-based-on-race">revealed</a>.
Corporations from across different sectors, including Bayer Pharmaceuticals, US Bank, Best Buy, and Liberty Mutual all participated in a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/major-bank-pharmaceutical-giant-participated-in-mckinsey-training-that-banned-white-people">training program</a> from McKinsey and Company that barred white people on the basis of their race.

Morgan Stanley Building

America’s Top Banks Host Programs That Discriminate Against White And Asian Men

Bank of America

Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI)

The Lee County Sheriff&#8217;s Office (FL) released video footage over the weekend that showed the moment a police sniper shot through a computer monitor to kill a bank robber who took hostages.
The incident happened in February when an unnamed 36-year-old man armed with a knife and claimed to have a bomb entered a Bank of America branch in Fort Myers.
&#8220;He had two hostages at this point and we tried to negotiate with him continuously,&#8221; Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno said at the time. &#8220;At one point during negotiations he became physical, he started to put one of the hostages in a headlock and he had the knife to her throat.&#8221;
&#8220;SWAT team was in place, when he presented deadly like that, our SWAT sniper shot and killed the suspect,&#8221; he added.
Police said in a video released on Saturday that the sniper rested his rifle on the shoulder of one of the other SWAT team members as the team stood in the lobby of the bank.
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The video shows that given the number of SWAT team members present and the position of the sniper, it would have been difficult for the suspect to see that law enforcement was preparing to neutralize him.
The sniper shot through a computer monitor and struck the suspect in the center of the forehead, killing him instantly, police said.
The moment the sniper takes the shot, the suspect&#8217;s head is blurred in the video to spare viewers the graphic scene.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
WATCH: Harrowing video shows moment sniper shoots through computer monitor and in between 2 hostages, taking out hostage-taker at Florida bank <a href="https://t.co/jt2anv3fo0">pic.twitter.com/jt2anv3fo0</a>
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) <a href="https://twitter.com/Breaking911/status/1799912615176786151?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 9, 2024</a></blockquote>

Sniper

VIDEO: Florida Sniper Shoots Bank Robber Through Computer Monitor In Hostage Situation

Crime

Florida

U.S.

Tennessee Republican Governor Bill Lee signed a bill into law earlier this week that prohibits financial institutions, such as banks and credit card companies, from specifically tracking gun and ammunition purchases.
<a href="https://wapp.capitol.tn.gov/apps/BillInfo/Default.aspx?BillNumber=HB2762" target="_blank" rel="noopener">House Bill 2762</a>, also called the &#8220;Second Amendment Financial Privacy Act,&#8221; prohibits financial institutions from requiring gun retailers to use a specific merchant code &#8220;that distinguishes a firearms retailer from a general merchandise retailer or a sporting goods retailer.&#8221; All retailers are assigned merchant codes based on what they sell, allowing banks and credit card companies to track purchasing patterns and protect against fraud. Gun retailers&#8217; merchant codes are usually included with those of other shops, like sporting goods stores.
State Rep. Rusty Grills, a Republican, introduced the legislation earlier this year after credit card companies Visa and Mastercard <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/visa-to-categorize-sales-at-gun-stores-in-win-for-gun-control-advocates" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> plans to separately categorize firearm and ammunition purchases in 2022.
The &#8220;Second Amendment Financial Privacy Act&#8221; also prohibits financial institutions from declining credit card transactions &#8220;based solely on the assignment or non-assignment of a firearms merchant category code&#8221; and outlaws government entities from keeping a registry of privately owned firearms or gun owners in the state.
Rep. Grills told The Daily Wire in a phone conversation on Thursday that he introduced the legislation to &#8220;protect the Second Amendment rights of all those in Tennessee&#8221; by preventing financial institutions from creating &#8220;a database&#8221; of gun buyers, a possibility Grills said is troubling because many corporations are being led by &#8220;capitalist woke folks.&#8221; Grills added that this new law will preempt any potential future efforts by institutions to interfere with Tenesseeans&#8217; Second Amendment rights.
&#8220;We would rather be able to protect our rights from the beginning rather than have to fight for our rights back at the end,&#8221; Grills said.
The bill passed the state House and Senate earlier this month before it was signed into law by Gov. Lee on Tuesday.
In 2022, the International Organization for Standardization (IOS) — which develops proprietary, industrial, and commercial standards — <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/exclusive-global-standards-body-approves-new-merchant-code-gun-sellers-2022-09-09/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">approved</a> a new merchant code specifically for gun retailers.
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Shortly after the IOS approved the change, credit card companies took the step of categorizing gun purchases separately from all other purchases. At the time, congressional Democrats were also <a href="https://twitter.com/SenWarren/status/1567214955690135552?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1567214955690135552%7Ctwgr%5Ef5ec583f964c1dc4fbe19556fa5ca458046587c1%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fnews.dailywire.com%2Fwp-admin%2Fpost.php%3Fpost%3D728687action%3Dedit" target="_blank" rel="noopener">urging</a> Visa, Mastercard, and American Express to &#8220;do more to help stop mass shootings.&#8221;
Those three credit card companies, however, paused plans to track gun purchases a few months later after Republican lawmakers and attorneys general <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/23-republican-ags-warn-credit-card-companies-to-abandon-plan-to-identify-gun-sales" target="_blank" rel="noopener">warned</a> the payment processors of the constitutional ramifications of their proposal. But in February of this year, Visa, Mastercard, and American Express moved forward with a plan to potentially track gun purchases in California, CBS News <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/american-express-visa-mastercard-gun-merchant-code/">reported</a>.
While multiple Republican-led state legislatures have passed bans on the specific merchant code for gun retailers, California passed a law requiring gun retailers to adopt the merchant code by May 2025.

Gun Store

Tennessee Governor Signs Bill Preventing Financial Institutions From Conducting Unauthorized Surveillance Of Gun Buyers

Bill Lee

credit card

General

Guns

Second Amendment

Tennessee

Dr. Jordan B. Peterson will testify on Capitol Hill this week for a House hearing on allegations of government collusion with banks to snoop on the private financial information of U.S. citizens, The Daily Wire has learned.
The Thursday hearing will be held by the House Judiciary Committee&#8217;s Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, which is chaired by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH). Jordan announced in January of this year that his committee obtained documents that show the federal government <a href="https://judiciary.house.gov/media/press-releases/federal-government-flagged-transactions-using-terms-maga-and-trump-financial" target="_blank" rel="noopener">flagged</a> monetary transactions using terms associated with former President Donald Trump for financial institutions.
&#8220;We now know the federal government flagged terms like &#8216;MAGA&#8217; and &#8216;TRUMP,&#8217; to financial institutions if Americans completed transactions using those terms,&#8221; Jordan <a href="https://twitter.com/Jim_Jordan/status/1747718053365010737" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> in a post to X. &#8220;What was also flagged? If you bought a religious text, like a BIBLE, or shopped at Bass Pro Shop.&#8221;
In addition to being a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/watch/jordan-peterson">DailyWire+ host</a>, Peterson is a Canadian clinical psychologist, best-selling author, and professor emeritus at the University of Toronto.
Ever since February of 2022, when Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-trudeau-announces-unprecedented-action-freezing-bank-accounts-of-freedom-convoy-protesters" target="_blank" rel="noopener">invoked</a> the Emergencies Act to freeze money to members of the &#8220;Freedom Convoy&#8221; who protested restrictive COVID-19 measures and vaccine mandates, Peterson has raised concerns about government abuse of the financial system.
When a top official said &#8220;accounts will be frozen,&#8221; Peterson <a href="https://twitter.com/jordanbpeterson/status/1494380989002489856?lang=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener">warned</a> on X that it meant the government &#8220;can now steal your money with the collusion of the banks because you provided financial support to a protest against the government. If you think this is a good idea you deserve what [is] coming to you.&#8221;
Peterson continued to speak out about the controversy in posts to social media. &#8220;Your seizure of Canadian bank accounts was the worst single act of the most reprehensible government in Canadian history,&#8221; he <a href="https://twitter.com/jordanbpeterson/status/1626697575742205952?lang=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> in a post to X in February 2023.
Concerns about federal law enforcement targeting political and religious expression protected by the Constitution as well as protecting civil liberties are certain to be topics of discussion during the hearing on Thursday.
In addition to Peterson, the witnesses who are expected to attend include: Brian Knight, senior research fellow and director of Innovation and Governance at George Mason University&#8217;s Mercatus Center at George Mason University; Jeremy Tedesco, senior counsel at the Alliance Defending Freedom; and Norbert Michel, vice president and director of the Cato Institute&#8217;s Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives.

Dr. Jordan Peterson/Jim Jordan

Jordan Peterson To Testify To Congress On Government Collusion With Banks

Jordan Peterson To Testify At Hearing on Alleged Government Collusion With Banks

Canada

Congress

First Amendment

Jim Jordan

Jordan Peterson

U.S. House of Representatives

<div>
Asked whether the Treasury Department urged financial institutions to examine legal purchases for signs of extremism, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen dodged the question, Fox News <a href="https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/yellen-dodges-whether-treasury-department-moved-surveil-americans-legal-purchases">reported</a>.
</div>
<div>
In January, the House Judiciary Committee <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/house-gop-investigating-bank-america-voluntarily-fbi-list-customers-jan-6" target="_blank" rel="noopener">asserted</a> that federal investigators, as part of an investigation into the events of January 6, 2021, urged banks to search and filter legal purchases with terms like &#8220;MAGA,” “Trump,” “Dick&#8217;s Sporting Goods,” “Cabela&#8217;s,”  and “Bass Pro Shops” while warning that the sale of “religious texts” could indicate &#8220;extremism.&#8221;
House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan <a href="https://judiciary.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/republicans-judiciary.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/2024-01-17-jdj-to-bishoff-re-ti-request.pdf">stated in a letter</a> that after Jan. 6, the Treasury Department’s Office of Stakeholder Integration and Engagement in the Strategic Operations of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), sent banks outlines “typologies” of “various persons of interest” as well as “suggested search terms and Merchant Category Codes for identifying transactions on behalf of federal law enforcement.”
</div>
<div>
“According to this analysis, FinCEN warned financial institutions of ‘extremism’ indicators that include ‘transportation charges, such as bus tickets, rental cars, or plane tickets, for travel areas with no apparent purpose,’ or ‘the purchase of books (including religious texts) and subscriptions to other media containing extremist views,’” Jordan wrote to the former director of FinCEN. “In other words, FinCEN used large financial institutions to comb through the private transactions of their customers for suspicious charges on the basis of protected political and religious expression.”
</div>
<div>
On Tuesday, Rep. Ann Wagner (R-MO) <a href="https://katv.com/news/nation-world/treasury-secretary-wont-say-whether-dept-surveils-americans-purchases-concerning-janet-yellen-ann-wagner-fincen-transactions-financial-crimes-enforcement-network" target="_blank" rel="noopener">stated</a>, “Increasingly, we are hearing the federal government is suggesting banks search private financial transactions using highly partisan political terms or check to see if customers made purchases that could be associated with legal sales of firearms or even religious texts.”
</div>
<div>
She asked Yellen, &#8220;Has Treasury — including FinCEN or federal banking agencies like the Fed, FDIC, OCC — instructed financial institutions to search Americans&#8217; legal transactions in attempts to surveil their purchases?”
</div>
<div>
“Well, we received the letter from you, I believe, on this topic, and we intend to investigate and to respond,” Yellen dodged. 
</div>
<div>
“Have you instructed banks and financial institutions to provide this information?” Wagner pressed.
</div>
<div>
&#8220;Well, FinCEN, our job is to work with financial institutions to make sure —&#8221; Yellen replied.
</div>
<div>
&#8220;Are they instructing financial institutions to search Americans&#8217; legal transactions in attempts to surveil their purchases?&#8221; Wagner reiterated.
</div>
<div>
&#8220;I promise a thorough look into everything,&#8221; Yellen answered.
</div>

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen On Capitol Hill

Janet Yellen Dodges Questions On Whether Biden Treasury Dept Urged Banks To Search Private Transactions

Janet Yellen

Privacy

Treasury Department

Saturday Night Live made headlines this weekend for all the wrong reasons. During Weekend Update, a cast member suggested that Donald Trump stumbled and introduced a “new term” to the debate called “de-banking.” What followed was a rather feeble attempt at mocking the former president.
In reality, de-banking is no laughing matter. It means losing essential financial services, like a bank account, payment processing, or even insurance, because of your views. And it is on the rise — so much so that the U.S. Supreme Court is set to hear arguments involving the issue this term.
Funny enough, the case originates in the Empire State (“Live from New York,” anybody?), where the National Rifle Association is challenging New York’s attempt to coerce banks and insurance companies to withdraw services from the group. The NRA alleges that the Department of Financial Services — at the behest of then-Governor Andrew Cuomo — used its vast power to regulate “reputational risk” along with back-channel meetings, public investigations, and threats of fines to punish the group for its Second Amendment advocacy. 
This is not an isolated incident. A string of religious ministries and conservative groups have also been <a href="https://www.viewpointdiversityscore.org/resources/instances-of-viewpoint-based-de-banking" target="_blank" rel="noopener">victimized</a> by de-banking. As Alliance Defending Freedom points out in a friend-of-the-court brief filed in support of the NRA’s position, pro-life group Heartbeat International was recently canceled by its insurance provider over its “anti-abortion” advocacy.
Likewise, Bank of America de-banked Indigenous Advance Ministries, an ADF client that serves impoverished Ugandan widows and orphans. The bank closed Indigenous Advance’s long-standing account as well as the account of a local church that donates to the ministry. The bank claimed it no longer wanted to serve their “business type” and that Indigenous Advance exceeded the “bank’s risk tolerance.”
It did this right before a planned mission trip to Uganda, sending Indigenous Advance scrambling to open new accounts and drastically reducing the funds for the trip. It couldn’t pay its Ugandan ministry partners — who live meal to meal — for several weeks. And it had to temporarily reduce aid to the impoverished people they serve.
Similar instances of de-banking abound. Former Brexit leader Nigel Farage’s high-profile case resulted in the <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/natwest-board-backs-ceo-alison-rose-over-farage-account-row-2023-07-25/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ouster</a> of megabank NatWest’s CEO. Serial offender JPMorgan Chase’s <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/jpmorgan-targeted-by-republican-states-over-accusations-of-religious-bias-903c8b26?mod=Searchresults_pos1&amp;page=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">hit list</a> includes the <a href="https://familycouncil.org/?p=25159" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Arkansas Family Council</a>, <a href="https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/chase-bank-missouri-conservative-group" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Defense of Liberty</a>, and U.S Ambassador Sam Brownback&#8217;s <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/stop-troubling-trend-politically-motivated-debanking-opinion-1787639" target="_blank" rel="noopener">National Committee for Religious Freedom</a>.
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Weekend Update: Trump Ordered to Pay $83 Million, DeSantis Endorses Trump - SNL" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/QLt6xK33mUc?start=133&#038;feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
There are many reasons for this phenomenon, but the root cause is vague terms of service. 
“Reputational” and “social” risk policies pervade financial institutions. Customers at all 28 commercial banks scored in Alliance Defending Freedom’s <a href="https://www.viewpointdiversityscore.org/business-index" target="_blank" rel="noopener">index</a> that measures corporate respect for free speech and religious freedom are currently vulnerable to de-banking.
Most alarmingly, 7 of the nation’s 10 largest commercial banks — including the top 3 — have “reputational risk” or “hate speech” policies. These policies’ overly broad and subjective language permit employees to discriminate based on a customer’s viewpoint and then hide their viewpoint-based actions behind opaque standards. They also allow abuse by government regulators.
A positive ruling in the NRA case — which, in a comedic twist that should provide fodder for SNL writers, is being argued by the ACLU — would affirm that the government cannot carry out its censorship schemes by co-opting third parties as censors. That would help. But that does not address the many de-banking decisions that can be laid at the feet of private actors.
The solution to this problem may lie with the states. This state legislative season presents an opportunity for states interested in protecting against politicized de-banking to act. Any such law should focus on the worst actors – the largest banks and payment processors. Thanks to wide-reaching government benefits, such as greater lending power, FDIC insurance rates, subsidies, bailouts, and an anticompetitive chartering system, these institutions dominate their markets over state-level competitors yet are responsible for the worst de-banking incidents.
At a minimum, the law should prohibit denial of services based on religious or political beliefs, give customers the right to ask for a detailed explanation when services are denied, empower the attorney general to enforce the statute, and provide aggrieved customers a private right of action.
No one should have to worry that they could lose their bank account, insurance coverage, or other essential financial services because of their religious or political views. Yet it’s clear that vague financial service policies abused by private and government actors pose a serious threat to everyone’s freedom of speech and religion.
So, an inadvertent thanks to our pals at SNL for bringing up de-banking. It’s about time we talked about it. And it’s about time for the law to require viewpoint neutrality from the biggest banks and payment processors.
* * *
Jeremy Tedesco is senior counsel and senior vice president of Corporate Engagement for <a href="http://www.adflegal.org/?utm_source=wallstreetjournal&amp;utm_medium=oped" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Alliance Defending Freedom</a> (<a href="https://twitter.com/ADFLegal">@ADFLegal</a>).
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the Daily Wire.

SNL’s Colin Jost on Weekend Update

SNL’s Trump ‘De-Banking’ Gaff Accidentally Elevates Hot Button Issue

SNL’s Trump 'De-Banking' Gaff Accidentally Elevates Hot Button Issue 

Readers Pass

Saturday Night Live

More than 60 branches of major banks filed to close in just one week this month, the latest in a growing trend of banks shuttering physical locations.
A total of 64 branches filed to close branches between November 12 and 18, according to data from the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, ZeroHedge <a href="https://www.zerohedge.com/personal-finance/64-us-bank-branches-file-shut-down-single-week-are-you-affected" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>.
The bank with the most closures was PNC Bank, the country&#8217;s sixth largest, which has been working on cutting costs lately.
PNC filed to shut down 19 branches across eight states, including five in Pennsylvania, four in Illinois, and locations in Texas, Alabama, New Jersey, Indiana, Ohio, and Florida.
During PNC&#8217;s second quarter earnings call, CEO William Demchak said the bank is “going to have to take a hard look&#8221; at where it can &#8220;generate savings &#8230; without cutting the potential for growth.”
Last month, PNC also said it was cutting 4% of its workforce. The bank has already shut down dozens of branches this year and is aiming for $725 million in expense cuts next year.
One factor driving the branch closures is the rise of online banking. During the pandemic, the number of bank branches shutting down <a href="https://ncrc.org/the-great-consolidation-of-banks-and-acceleration-of-branch-closures-across-america/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">doubled</a> as more people stayed at home and banked through their bank&#8217;s website or banking app.
Between 2017 and 2021, about 7,500 bank branches, or 9% of all brick-and-mortar locations shut down, <a href="https://ncrc.org/the-great-consolidation-of-banks-and-acceleration-of-branch-closures-across-america/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to a report from the National Community Reinvestment Coalition.
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Last year alone, a net of 2,054 bank branches closed, <a href="https://www.zerohedge.com/personal-finance/64-us-bank-branches-file-shut-down-single-week-are-you-affected" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to data from S&amp;P.
Although closing physical banking locations may save banks money, they have also created banking deserts for customers or areas where the closest bank is many miles away. This can cause a litany of other unintended effects, such as a decline in small business lending, as well as the area losing an employer and commercial tenant.
Also, when there are fewer branches in the area, more people use &#8220;alternative financial services that open them to unregulated and predatory financial practices,&#8221; a report from the National Community Reinvestment Coalition <a href="https://www.zerohedge.com/personal-finance/64-us-bank-branches-file-shut-down-single-week-are-you-affected" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>.
PNC&#8217;s closures are expected to result in 60% of its banking business being online.
JPMorgan Chase was the bank with the second most branch closure filings during the week of November 12. The bank filed to shutter 18 branches in 14 states including New York, Ohio, and Connecticut.
Citizens Bank filed to close eight branches, including six branch closures in New York.
U.S. Bank filed to shutter seven locations including three in Tennessee.
Bank of America filed to close five locations including two in New York, and one each in Texas, Massachusetts, and California.
Citibank filed to shut down two branches.
Several other banks filed to shut down one branch each, including Sterling, Bremer, First National Bank of Hughes Springs, Windsor Federal Savings &amp; Loan Association, and Aroostook County Federal Savings &amp; Loan Association.

PNC Bank Branch Locations Ahead Of Earning Figures

Over 60 U.S. Bank Branches File To Shutter In One Week

Biden Administration

Money

On Tuesday, Moody&#8217;s reduced the credit ratings of ten regional American <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/banks">banks</a> while threatening to downgrade many other bigger banks.
The ten banks targeted by Moody’s included Amarillo National Bancorp, BOK Financial, Commerce Bancshares, Fulton Financial, M&amp;T Bank, Old National Bancorp, Pinnacle Financial Partners, Prosperity Bancshares, and Webster Financial.  Shares of the major banks JPMorgan, Bank of America, Citigroup and Wells Fargo plunged as a result.
Moody&#8217;s Investors Service revealed it would review the ratings of six other institutions, including Bank of New York Mellon, Northern Trust, State Street, and US Bancorp. In addition, Moody’s assigned a negative outlook to 11 other banks, The Wall Street Journal <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/global-stocks-markets-dow-news-08-08-2023-f2a80b95?mod=hp_lead_pos2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>. The Dow Jones Industrial average plunged 3.75%.
“Many banks&#8217; second-quarter results showed growing profitability pressures that will reduce their ability to generate internal capital,&#8221; Moody&#8217;s <a href="https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/moodys-downgrades-10-us-banks-warns-possible-cuts-others-2023-08-08/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said.</a> &#8220;This comes as a mild U.S. recession is on the horizon for early 2024 and asset quality looks set to decline, with particular risks in some banks’ commercial real estate (CRE)portfolios.&#8221;
&#8220;U.S. banks&#8217; Q2 earnings showed material increases in funding costs as well as profitability pressures related to the significant and rapid tightening in monetary policy and inverted yield curve, which will continue to lower profitability and implies a weaker ability to generate capital internally,&#8221; Moody&#8217;s analysts added.
“What we&#8217;re doing here is recognizing some headwinds &#8211; we&#8217;re not saying that the banking system is broken,” Ana Arsov, managing director of financial institutions at Moody&#8217;s, stated. “This is largely a profitability story — we are not raising major concerns that the system is majorly undercapitalized or underfunded.”
The net interest margins of bank, which are the difference between interest the banks earn on loans and the interest depositors earn, have been affected because of the release of non-interest bearing deposits that were triggered by the 2023 financial situation, Investopedia <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/moody-s-downgrades-credit-ratings-for-10-banks-puts-six-others-on-notice-7571278#citation-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">noted</a>, adding that most banks are troubled by high loan-to-deposit ratios, which could leave them vulnerable to insufficient liquidity.
In May, First Republic Bank failed, the biggest bank to fail since Washington Mutual in 2008, which was the largest bank failure in U.S. history.

In this photo illustration, the Moody’s Corporation logo is

Moody’s Slashes Credit Ratings Of Regional Banks, Sees Recession In 2024

Moody's

One of the U.K.’s largest banks <a href="https://talk.tv/news/23195/metro-bank-refuses-to-open-account-for-gender-critical-parents-nigel-farage" target="_blank" rel="noopener">refused</a> to open an account with a conservative parent group because of its stances on gender ideology, the group claims.
Metro Bank, Britain’s seventh largest bank, <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12264723/Metro-Bank-blocks-gender-critical-parents-opening-account-signing-Stonewall-scheme.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">would not</a> open a business account for <a href="https://ourduty.group/about/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Our Duty</a>, an international network of over 2,000 parents that advocates against gender transitions for minors, according to the organization’s founder Keith Jordan.
“The content of your website conflicts with the culture and ideas we are pushing,” a Metro Bank employee <a href="https://twitter.com/OurDutyGrp/status/1676183710620590083" target="_blank" rel="noopener">allegedly</a> told the organization. “The bank has staff networks for diversity and inclusion including for LGBTQ staff.”
“The bank was making it patently clear that they consider only one worldview to be valid. If it were truly a champion of diversity and inclusion, it would accept our diverse views and be keen to include us,&#8221; the organization responded. “It seems that Our Duty is the latest casualty in the LGBTQ+ staff networks&#8217; war on differing views.”
On top of the bank&#8217;s reported refusal to open a business account with Our Duty, Jordan said that their existing &#8220;community account&#8221; with Metro Bank is “under review.” The bank told Jordan via email that Our Duty&#8217;s account violated guidelines that forbid community account holders from being &#8220;linked to, or influenc[ing] political policies or legislations,&#8221; The Telegraph <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/07/03/most-high-street-banks-signed-up-stonewall-diversity/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>.
Last month, the bank of 2.5 million customers joined the Stonewall <a href="https://www.stonewall.org.uk/join-diversity-champions-programme" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Diversity Champion Program</a>, a controversial scheme that promotes left-wing LGBTQ agenda items in the workplace. In 2021, the BBC <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-59232736" target="_blank" rel="noopener">left</a> the program over concerns that the publication could not be neutral in public debates due to its affiliation with Stonewall.
Metro Bank’s alleged denial comes amid <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12262157/Equalities-chief-fathers-rights-charity-UKIP-councillor-claim-bank-accounts-shut.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reports</a> of British banks shutting the accounts of people based on their political or moral views, including an equalities commissioner, fathers’ rights charity, and UKIP councilor.
The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) recently shut down the account of Scotland’s Equality and Human Rights Commissioner Dr. Lesley Sawers, who works on women’s and LGBT issues. Sawers’ husband claimed RBS told him that she has “a mark against her name.”
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The CEO of Families Needs Fathers, an organization that helps children maintain relationships with both parents after a divorce, told the Daily Mail that HSBC shut down their account in April “without any warning.”
Former Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage <a href="https://talk.tv/news/23072/what-is-the-real-reason-coutts-closed-nigel-farages-bank-account" target="_blank" rel="noopener">claimed</a> that Coutts bank closed his accounts and that nine other banks refused to open accounts with him because of his political views.
The British government is currently <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12258933/Rishi-Sunak-issues-warning-banks-blacklisting-customers-controversial-views.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">investigating</a> banks for shutting down accounts because of their customers’ views on politics, Brexit, and gender ideology. However, the issue of banks retaliating against its customers for their political views is not limited to the U.K.
According to the Daily Mail, a whistleblower from Santander — an American bank — said that the bank is on a “really toxic path” and has been “policing the political views of their customers.” He also said that LGBT activists pressured the company to close the account of a customer who told the company that “banks shouldn’t support political causes” in reaction to Pride flags at one of Santander’s branches.
In 2022, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau worked with banks to freeze the accounts of those who protested his COVID mandates. According to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/14/world/americas/justin-trudeau-emergencies-act-canada.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The New York Times</a>, Canadian police officers exchanged protesters’ personal information with banks, and insurance companies were required to revoke coverage for vehicles used in protests.

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