At long last, the quiet weaponization of financial institutions against conservative and religious Americans has been directly called out by the country’s highest elected official.
“Many conservatives complain that the banks are not allowing them to do business within the bank,” President Trump said to Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan at a World Economic Forum session last week. “What you’re doing is wrong.”
President Trump’s criticism elevated one of the most concerning discriminatory practices plaguing American conservatives.
For the past several years, the Left’s woke diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) agenda and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) programs have infiltrated America’s top financial institutions, leading to the targeting of conservative, religious Americans who do not support virtue-signaling programs that defy their religious and political convictions.
Their top strategy? Debanking.
“Debanking,” or “derisking," as it’s more technically called, is a tactic financial institutions deploy as a self-defense mechanism against customers deemed to be high risk, usually reserved for suspected criminal behavior like money laundering, fraud, or terrorism financing. It is a tool meant to protect banks from the legal trouble that would arise should they fail to submit a “suspicious activity report” and take appropriate action against the perpetrator as required by the Bank Secrecy Act.
However, some financial institutions are weaponizing this strategy against clients holding different political views by canceling their accounts or refusing to offer financial services to new customers.
It is happening and it is wrong. Denying basic financial services to new or longtime customers based on their personal beliefs or affiliations is, at its core, unlawful political and religious discrimination.
Discriminatory debanking has been festering in the financial industry for years. Although a few politicians and state officials have made a bipartisan effort to label debanking for what it is -- politically motivated lawfare and unlawful discrimination -- by sending letters to top bank CEOs and introducing protective legislation, the movement has gotten little attention and made even less national progress.
The President using a public forum to raise the issue directly with the head of one of the world’s largest banks signaled that this was an issue they could no longer ignore. It’s a concern that the President has personal stake in, as his wife Melania recently revealed that she and First Son, Barron were dropped as clients from their bank, she believed, due to their political ties. Both private citizens and high-profile individuals have become scapegoats of the Left’s woke agenda, but the president has signaled that will no longer be the case.
Trump’s warning to America’s top banks comes amid the unveiling of a prominent pillar of his new administration: the targeting of radical DEI programs in universities, financial institutions, and federal agencies. These programs ironically promise inclusion and equality but censor and ostracize any philosophical or political diversity.
Trump’s attack on woke debanking and the weaponization of financial institutions is a promising sign for conservative and religious Americans who fear that they may be abandoned and unfairly penalized by their banks.
But for conservatives and religious groups who do not want to depend on the “word” of woke corporations, there is another promising option.
Coign is America’s first financial services company built by conservatives for conservatives -- a safe harbor for conservative and religious Americans and groups. We respect our clients’ intellectual, political, and religious freedom. Coign not only provides protection and financial freedom, but the confidence that your hard-earned wages are not being funneled toward woke programs and lining the pockets of executives looking to censor and ostracize their political opposition.
Financial security is essential for functioning in a free market economic system and self-governing republic. Providing fair and equal access to financial services without prejudice against consumers’ political and religious convictions is foundational to our country.
The political weaponization of financial services has been a scourge in our country for far too long. It’s long past time that these institutions change their culture and practices and end unlawful discrimination. Fortunately, Americans do not have to wait for them to make a change and instead can take control of their own financial future. Americans can turn to Coign and likeminded companies, where no customer will be discriminated against on any basis: not race, color, religion, sex, creed, or ideology.
